Appendix for Murder
by sherryw
Summary: Nick's appendix isn't the only thing giving him trouble when he's the only witness to a murder.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone, I'm back with a new story. This story takes place after Grave Danger, but has nothing to do with either of my other stories. This is a completely different story. I hope all of you enjoy it and I want to thank Tefla for once being my beta. Enjoy!

* * *

It was a cool evening in the city of Las Vegas, but that didn't keep the tourists from coming out in swarms. The casinos were always hopping, however the business district was quiet. 

The business district housed many different companies, one company specifically Capral Enterprise. The building, located in the Las Vegas business district, was known as headquarters. The building was quiet except for one lone man who entered through the front doors with a key. The man's name was Dustin Schultz. He was a programmer at Capral Enterprise.

Dustin was in his late twenties and had been a programmer with Capral Enterprise for five years. He was at the top of his class and was recruited to work for them right after he graduated from college.

Capral Enterprise was in the business of game development, casino games to be specific. When he was hired he thought he was working for an honest, law-abiding company, but he was mistaken. At work one day he had accidentally found out that the company was close to bankruptcy and that the CEO and Head of Security Department had stolen a copy of a new game. It was their intention of using this stolen prototype to recover their assets by creating a new and upcoming game. They had stolen the copy from their main competitor Biston International, a company famous for their games in many countries including the United States.

When Dustin learned of this he immediately went to the authorities, but was told without proof there was nothing they could do. He would have to get the proof on his own, if he wanted justice.

He made his way up to the CEO Jake Evers office, he knew from the conversation he had overheard that the disk was in there.

He walked into the large corner office, until now he had never been up there before. He had always wondered what this office would look like. Never in a million years would he have thought that he would be breaking into the CEO's office. He left the lights off for fear of being caught. He walked past the couch and tables up to the executives' desk. The desk was made from cherry wood the finest of quality.

Dustin made his way around the desk and tried to pull open the drawer, but it was locked. He looked around the desk for anything he could use to force the lock he spotted a letter opener. He grabbed the letter opener and with finesse he didn't know he had was able to unlock the desk.

He opened the first drawer only to find various folders, a stapler, and a pair of scissors, paperclips and other odds and ends. He opened the second drawer and hit the jackpot he had found the disk. He closed the drawer, but didn't attempt to hide the fact that he was there. He would regret that decision later.

He took off his right shoe and opened the heel by sliding it, he snickered to himself, this reminded him of the James Bond movies he used to watch growing up. The disk fit in his heel perfectly he closed the heel and put his shoe back on.

He slowly made his way back down to the lobby and looked around the corner to find the guard still away. He had been watching the guards for a number of weeks tracking their movements and to make sure he entered the building when they were on their rounds. He quickly walked to the exit and left the building. Little did he know that he had been spotted and identified by one of the guards.

The guard promptly picked up the phone and dialed the head of the security department.

"Mr. Harris, this is Officer Sanchez from security I'm sorry to bother you at such a late hour, but I thought you'd want to know that we had an unauthorized entry in the building."

Robert Harris was the Head of the Security Department and reported directly to Jake Evers the CEO. He knew an unauthorized entry could mean almost anything.

"It's no problem Officer Sanchez…Can you identify the person?"

"Yes sir it was Dustin Schultz."

Harris closed his eyes and hoped that it was something simple, but he found that nothing was ever simple. However, complicated never bothered him either. He was known for getting the unthinkable done and no one ever asked how he did it.

"O.K. Thanks I'll be in shortly."

"Yes sir…we'll be waiting for you."

Harris hung up the phone and got out of bed. He was a single man; in his line of business it wasn't good to have a family.

It took twenty minutes to get dressed and drive into the office. Once there he didn't like what he found. He skimmed the security tapes and followed Dustin everywhere he had gone, without Dustin's knowledge.

Capral Enterprise had the best cameras and were well hidden. They covered the stairwells and elevators as well as the lobby and hallway going up to the CEO's office. However, there were no cameras in the CEO's office for both privacy and legal reasons.

The cameras followed Dustin into Evers office. Harris knew there were no cameras allowed in there so he walked up to the office himself. What he found he didn't like. The large cherry wood desk had obviously been broken into. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and dialed Evers.

"Hello."

"Mr. Evers, this is Harris we have a problem."

"What sort of problem?"

"You know that project you're working on."

"Yes."

"Well someone broke into your office this evening and stole it."

"Who?"

"Dustin Schultz."

Evers wasn't happy about the news. He too was single, but had a number of lady friends that visited every once in awhile. Tonight, however, he was alone. He got out of bed and walked over to his scotch decanter and poured himself a drink.

"Dustin Schultz has become a liability. I don't care what you do Harris, but take care of it and get that disk back. You know what we went through to get that disk; I will not let such a valuable object be stolen from me. Keep me informed." With that said he hung up his phone and took a large sip of his scotch and sat down on a nearby chair.

* * *

Dustin Schultz lived in the low end of town though he did make a fair amount of money working for Capral, but with student loans he was forced to live this way until all debts were paid. 

His apartment building was an old building from the forties. The building itself was run down. The brick that surrounded it was cracking here and there. There were some broken windows that had been boarded up on the various floors. Though the building itself was old Dustin grew to like and become friends with the people in the neighborhood. They all looked out for each other. In fact they had recently started a neighborhood watch program and so far it had been very successful. Just because people were poor didn't mean they weren't law-abiding.

The building itself did not have a parking lot, so Dustin usually parked his car directly across the street. Most people didn't have cars in the neighborhood so there was plenty of parking.

He pulled into his usual spot and looked around for anything suspicious. He took a deep breath. He was almost home free. As soon as he got into his apartment he would call his contact at the Police Department.

He put his car in park, got out and slammed the door shut. He started to cross the street and just as he was half way across a black truck came speeding down the street. Dustin looked up just in time to see the truck barreling at him. He didn't have time to jump out of the way. His lanky body hit and rolled over the hood. He crashed into the windshield and then violently fell to the ground.

* * *

After Harris spoke with Evers he figured that Dustin Schultz would probably go to the place he felt the safest, his home. He called two of his most trusted men. 

Harris had two kinds of staff - the law-abiding that worked at the company and had no idea what he did on the side and the other was just like him. They would do what they were paid to do and at that moment it was to get rid of Dustin Schultz.

Harris and his men had waited in a darkened area of the street when they saw Dustin pull up and park. Harris had perked up as soon as he spotted Dustin. They watched as Dustin exited his car.

"O.K. this is him."

The black truck roared to life as the ignition was turned. They slowly pulled out of their parking spot and quickly sped up. Dustin was just in the middle of the street when they hit him head on. They saw Dustin roll over the hood and crash into the windshield and as the truck gained speed he fell to the ground.

Harris turned around to see if Schultz was dead, but he saw him move an arm.

"He's still alive, turn this thing around. We need to finish him off."

But before they could turn the truck around, the violent act and the screeching tires had awakened the neighborhood and soon the streets were littered with Dustin's neighbors.

"Let's get out of here. We'll have to finish the job at the hospital."

The truck raced down the street as sirens neared the area. The body of Dustin Schultz grew smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror as they got further and further away.

* * *

It was the beginning of the shift at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. CSI 3 Nick Stokes wandered towards the break room. He secretly hoped that Greg had beat him in. The reason being when Greg was in a good mood he would make the shift a pot of his nice Hawaiian blend coffee. It was aromatic and potent; both worked well for the nightshift CSIs. If Greg didn't come in early then there usually was a black gooey liquid in the coffee pot left over from the previous shift. 

As Nick entered the break room he found the newest member of the team Greg Sanders sitting at the break table reading a copy of Rolling Stone Magazine. Nick looked over at the coffee pot and noticed it percolating. He looked up the sky and said a silent thank-you.

"Hey Greggo…is that your special Hawaiian blend I smell?" He asked as he walked into the break room.

Greg looked up from his magazine when he heard his name. "Hey Nick…yep that's my special blend."

"What's the occasion? Not that I'm complaining or anything?"

Greg smiled, " Well I figured since tonight is your last night before you leave on your vacation I thought I'd give you a nice send off."

"Wow…thanks Greg. I should go on vacation more often."

"Just don't let it go to your head." Greg said with a smile.

Nick laughed at Greg's remark.

"I won't…I appreciate the thought." He said grabbing a coffee cup then going for the pot.

"Hold on there Nick." Greg said getting up from the table.

A puzzled Nick watched Greg make his way over to him.

"I said I made the coffee for you, but I still get the first cup." Greg said as he snatched the cup out of Nick's hand and poured himself a cup. Nick chuckled as Greg sat back down.

Nick had just poured himself a cup when the rest of the team made their way into the break room. Sara Sidle, the dark haired brunette led the pack. The tall, dark and green-eyed Warrick Brown followed her in and bringing up the rear was the graceful, yet firm, Catherine Willows.

Both Nick and Greg looked to the door as the group shuffled in. Warrick noticed the coffee pot.

"Now that's what I'm talking about…Greg you da man." Warrick said with a big smile plastered on his face.

"Yea Greg thanks for the coffee." Catherine replied.

"You are welcome."

"What's the occasion?" Sara asked.

"Well Nick's last day is today and he'll be off on vacation so I thought I'd give him a nice send off."

"Oh yea that's right." Warrick replied. "And you came in! Why didn't you call in sick? That's what I usually do." Warrick kept talking.

"I'll remember that next time you are scheduled for vacation Warrick." Grissom said from the doorway.

Warrick squirmed then turned to face Grissom, "Just joking of course Grissom."

"Of course Warrick."

Nick and Greg both had smiles plastered on their faces and received a death glare from Warrick, which made them smile even more.

"Well Nick sorry, but your last evening before your vacation isn't going to be a quiet one. Here." Grissom handed him a slip of paper. "You and Sara will be taking care of a B & E over at the Motor Werks Company. In the morning just pass all of your stuff to Sara and she will take the case from there."

"Sure thing Grissom." He took the slip looked at it then handed it to Sara.

"Warrick and Catherine you guys have a DB over at the Little Vegas Miniature Golf Course."

Catherine took the slip from Grissom, "Hmm…I've been there before with Lindsey…nice course."

Grissom turned to look at Greg. "Greg I need you in the lab today. Mia called in sick and her backup is on vacation."

"Sure…No problem."

"Thanks. O.K. that's it people."

"What about you?" Catherine asked.

Grissom held up a piece of paper. "I have my own DB. If you need me you can either reach via my cell or pager. Everyone be safe."

With that said he turned around and quickly walked out. Catherine, Warrick and Greg stood.

"Later guys." And both of them walked out.

"Well I'm off to the lab. I'll catch you later."

"Bye Greg," they both said.

Sara looked at Nick just as he finished his coffee.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yep let's hit it." He said standing up. Just as he got all the way he suddenly received a sharp pain in his side, it took his breath away and he grabbed hold of the chair he had been sitting on. Sara stood quickly and walked over to him.

"Nick are you O.K?"

As quickly as the pain had come it was now gone. He stood up straight and looked at Sara with a smile.

"Yea I'm fine. I must have pulled a muscle during my workout this evening. Shall we get going?" He said as he motioned to the door.

"If you say so."

The two CSIs left the break room and headed to their B&E.

* * *

Whew! I swear the first chapter is always the hardest chapter. As usual if you noticed with my stories the first chapter is always setup. Please review and let me know what you think so far. Depending on the reviews we'll see how fast I spurt out another chapter. 


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for all the great reviews. I replied to those I could. I would like to throw out another thank-you to Tefla for doing the whole beta thing. This chapter is a little shorter sorry about that. I just wanted to get something out for you.

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI and envy the people that do.**

**

* * *

**Sara and Nick had arrived at the Motor Werks Company to find a lone police car sitting in the parking lot. The Motor Werks Company was known for selling both new and used Mercedes, BMWs, Saabs, Porsches, Hondas, Cadillacs, and Infiniti cars. 

The large display window had been shattered and there were a million pieces of glass on the ground in front of the building. As the two CSIs made their way over an officer greeted them.

"Nick, Sara how's it going?"

"Good Dan…So what do we got here?" Sara asked.

"Well dispatch received an alarm at this location at 11:33pm. I was asked to check it out and found it like this. I've been here for about thirty minutes now.

"Has anyone contacted the owner yet?" Nick asked.

"The owner gets notified automatically when the alarms go off. His name is Albert Jones and he lives in Henderson he should be here shortly."

"OK. Thanks…Has the place been cleared yet?" Nick asked again looking into the building through the broken window.

"Yea I cleared it. I went through right there and I didn't touch anything."

The officer pointed out his path to the CSIs.

"Well I guess we should get to work." Nick said to Sara.

The CSIs walked away from the officer and moved in closer to the building.

"So how do you want to handle this?" Sara asked.

Nick looked at Sara, "Well you're the lead on this Sara you make the call. Remember I have," he looked at his watch, "Seven hours and eighteen minutes to go until I'm on vacation."

"You had to go there didn't you? Well just for that you can take the outside and start taking pictures."

"Sure thing Sara I'll get started."

Nick grabbed his camera and started taking pictures. He took pictures of the broken display window, the shattered glass on the ground and the tire marks on the sidewalk just outside the window.

He followed the tire marks and shattered glass to the street the whole time documenting the path with pictures.

Nick bent over to examine the tire marks when he felt the sharp pain in his side returning. He stood up and took a deep breath in willing it to go away. Finally after a few minutes the pain subsided, but didn't go away completely. He silently told himself to make sure he stretched better the next time he worked out.

He bent down once again to finish what he had been doing when a pair of headlights temporarily blinded him. A Mercedes had just pulled in and slowly made its way across the parking lot, parking next to the CSIs SUV.

A short balding man stepped out of the car adjusting his dark gray Armani suit. He started to walk towards the building when the on scene officer walked up to him to keep him from going into the building.

Nick watched as the officer pointed in his direction, the man nodded his understanding and started to head towards Nick.

The CSI stood up still feeling a twinge in his side and made his way over to the gentleman. It wasn't usually a CSI's job to assume, but in this case Nick felt safe to assume that this was the owner of the company.

Nick was finally close enough to speak to the man.

"Can I help you sir?" He asked politely.

"I'm Albert Jones. I own the building." He waved his arm back towards the building.

Nick nodded his head in understanding "I'm Nick Stokes with the Crime Lab. We were called out here to investigate a breaking and entering."

"Yes…it's a pleasure Mr. Stokes." He said extending his hand and checking Nick out.

Nick squirmed under Mr. Jones' gaze as he shook his hand. He cleared his throat, took his hand back and forced a small smile. "If you would follow me sir I would like to you tell me what's missing from your showroom."

"Of course…of course. Anything I can do to help you." He said with a large grin on his face. "Please lead the way." '_So I can check out your ass'_ he said to himself.

Nick forced another smile, "Please sir after you." He waved his arm towards the building.

"Sure anything you want Mr. Stokes."

Just as Nick and Mr. Jones walked up to the building Sara chose that moment to exit.

"Nick I just finished processing the inside so we are good to go." Sara said.

She looked over at the owner waiting for an introduction by Nick. She was surprised when she received an annoyed, dirty look from the owner.

"Sara, this is Mr. Jones the owner, Mr. Jones this is my partner Sara Sidle."

Sara plastered on a fake smile, " It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Jones. I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances."

"Yes well the pleasure is all yours."

Sara didn't let the comment faze her. In their line of work she had heard much worse.

She got right to the point. " Mr. Jones as you can see the display window has been shattered can you tell us what was here?"

"Of course I can tell you. It was the 2006 Cabriolet, a wonderful car. As you can see I drive one myself." And looking directly at Nick said, "Maybe I can give you a ride sometime."

Sara started coughing.

"Are you alright Miss Sidle?" Mr. Jones asked with fake concern.

Nick gave Sara a death glare and she abruptly stopped coughing.

After clearing her throat she said, "I'm sorry about that. I think I might be coming down with something."

"You should really get that checked out. You wouldn't want to get Mr. Stokes here sick."

She started coughing again, "Thanks for your concern Mr. Jones, but really I'm fine."

"Um…Mr. Jones do you have any security or surveillance cameras in the showroom?" Nick asked.

He turned back towards Nick, "Of course, they are back in my private office Mr. Stokes. Shall I show _you_ where it is?"

"If you could escort Miss Sidle and myself back there I would greatly appreciate it."

Mr. Jones made his way towards the building leaving the two CSIs alone for a moment.

"Would you two like to be alone?" Sara snickered.

"Its not funny Sara," Nick growled.

"Yes Nick…it is." She snorted.

"Are you coming?" Mr. Jones called from the door.

"Yes sir, we're coming." Nick pushed Sara towards the door and he followed her in.

"I should have called in sick." He mumbled to himself as he went through the door.

* * *

Well there it is. The next chapter will have the rest of the group in it. I hope you liked it. Let me know your thoughts. I also hope I didn't offend anyone. The chapter wasn't meant to do that. Take care and see you all next chapter. Remember please review. Thanks! 


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone thanks for the reviews. I really appreciate them. I'm really sorry it took so long to post, but RL was getting in the way. Anyway I hope you like the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Nick followed Mr. Jones and Sara into the showroom and the three of them made their way through a door marked 'private.' Once through the door they followed Jones up a flight of stairs. Nick found this difficult as his pain was returning.

He slowed down as Sara and Jones started to pull away. They were at the top of the stairs when they looked down to see Nick slowly making his way up the stairs trying to mask the pain he was in.

He finally reached the top. He could see the concern in Sara's eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but Nick put his hand up to silence her. She scowled at him as he walked by and up to Mr. Jones.

"If you could lead the way Mr. Jones."

"This way."

The three of them walked down a long hallway, it had blue plush carpeting lining the floors. The hallways were painted with a beautiful faux finish that looked of leather. There were pictures of cars in expensive silver frames hanging in the hallway.

Nick casually looked around the hallway as they made their way through. It was decorated rather nice for a car dealer. If he didn't know better, he would have thought he was at one of the casinos presidential suites. But he supposed the clientele that came into the dealer would be high end and wouldn't have expected anything less.

They finally arrived at a door with a nameplate on the wall beside it that said:

**Albert Jones – Owner**

"In here." Jones said.

The CSIs followed the owner through the door into a large office. It was larger that it appeared from the outside. The carpeting that was in the hallway continued into the office and the walls were decorated the same.

As they walked in a large cherry wood desk and a matching cherry wood chair greeted them. The chair had a beautiful blue patterned material on it.

Mr. Jones threw his keys on his desk and made his way over to a cherry wood recessed shelving unit that housed the security equipment for the building. Underneath each monitor there was a VCR.

Nick and Sara walked up to the equipment and both stooped down to look at the monitor that showed the broken display window.

Mr. Jones brushed up against Nick as he pressed the rewind button on the VCR connected to that camera. Nick inched a little closer to Sara and away from Mr. Jones. It was obvious that he purposely invading Nick's personal space.

"Let's see what we can find." Mr. Jones said smiling at Nick.

"We appreciate your cooperation." Nick replied back uneasy.

The three of them watched as the tape rewound. They finally came to the part where the car smashed through the window; they went a few minutes before that.

"Stop the tape right there." Sara said. "You see there. Do you recognize that person Mr. Jones?"

Mr. Jones looked at the screen in shock. "Yes I know that person and I'm going to kill him."

"Excuse me." Nick said surprised

"Oh not that kind of kill Mr. Stokes. That young man that took the car is my son."

"Your son?" Both Sara and Nick said together.

"Yes my son…surprised? Well not as surprised as my wife was after 27 years of marriage."

"Mr. Jones we meant no offence." Sara backpedaled trying to fix the situation.

"Don't worry Miss Sidle I'm not offended. It takes a lot more than that... Trust me."

Mr. Jones turned once again to address Nick and only Nick. It was apparent that Mr. Jones did not want to deal with any women even if they weren't his wife.

"Mr. Stokes I will handle this matter. Let's just say that my son has still not accepted who I am and he's rebelling. I'm not going to press charges. He probably went out on a joy ride. I will have him pay for the window, he does get a weekly allowance and it will more than cover the window expenses. I do apologize for this inconvenience."

"Mr. Jones it's really not that simple." Sara said.

Mr. Jones turned and glared at her. "Look Miss Sidle I was not talking to you. I would also like you to know that I do know the sheriff. So if you don't drop this matter I will let him know that you did in fact offend me."

"Are you threatening me Mr. Jones?"

"No Miss Sidle I'm just making a friendly suggestion." He replied.

Sara glowered at Mr. Jones while she grabbed Nick's arm, "If you'll excuse us for a minute while we talk about this." She said to Mr. Jones.

Nick let Sara lead him into the hall; he placed his right hand on his side, the pain was getting worse. She turned to face him. "What is your take on this Nick?"

"Sara you're the lead on this…it's your call."

"Nick I'm asking your opinion here."

"Well it's obvious that his family is going through an emotional battle right now. Imagine if you found out that your father was a homosexual. The kid was just doing what a normal spoiled rich kid would do. It's obvious that Mr. Jones cares about what happens to his son. It's his business … his car … if he doesn't want to press charges then that's fine with me. We can leave our cards with him if he changes his mind."

Sara listened intently to Nick's words as she noticed the beads of perspiration on his forehead.

"OK. we'll leave it at that then. I won't pursue it." She turned to go back in the office then stopped and looked at Nick again. "Are you sure you're OK?"

Nick forced a smile at her, "Sara I'm fine. I just think I over did it during my workout today. It's nothing a little relaxation won't fix. You know the kind of relaxation you get on vacation."

"Is that why you don't want to pursue this case, because your are going on vacation?" Sara asked playfully.

"Not at all…remember Grissom told me to turn everything over to you when I left. So it doesn't really matter one way or another. I just figure that the kid is going through enough already and we should just let them handle this privately."

Sara finally seemed convinced. "OK. then. I appreciate your input. I guess we'll just let Mr. Jones handle it then."

The two CSIs walked back into the room to find Mr. Jones sitting at his desk on the phone.

"I don't care Scott…you get your ass along with that car you took back here at once...At this point you are lucky I'm not having you arrested. Now I want to see you back here in ten minutes." With that said he hung up the phone and looked at the two CSIs that just entered the room.

"Well?" he asked.

"We decided since your family is going through enough right now, to not press charges and that's the only reason Mr. Jones." Sara responded.

"Well that's very good of you Miss Sidle. Now if you'll excuse me I have pressing matters to attend to."

Both Nick and Sara saw that as a dismissal and turned to leave. Sara pulled a card out of her kit and placed it silently on the desk. This alerted Mr. Jones.

"Oh Mr. Stokes one moment please." he called from his desk.

Nick turned back around to see him coming around his desk towards him. He was carrying something is his hand.

"Here's my card Mr. Stokes. If you are ever in need of a vehicle or just want to go for a ride…give me a call." He said with a wink.

Nick gulped and took the card from the older man and turned back around bumping into Sara. He could see the smirk on her face as he pushed her towards the door. He obviously couldn't get out of the room fast enough.

They made there wayback outside as they saw the stolen 2006 Cabriolet pull into the parking lot. A kid that looked at least seventeen parked the car next to his father's. As he got out he hesitated when he found the two CSIs watching him. He jumped when he heard his father call for him from the door of the dealership. He stole one more glance at the CSIs as he slowly made his way over to his father.

Sara just shook her head at the whole situation, another dysfunctional family. Even though Mr. Jones was rude to her, she hoped that his family could work through their problems. Nick was right, it was better if they handled it privately.

"Let's head back to the lab." Sara said going towards the passenger side of the SUV.

"Sara would you mind driving?" Nick asked as he wiped some perspiration from his forehead and leaned on the truck for support holding his side.

Sara could see that more perspiration had built on Nick's head and it was obvious that he was hiding something.

"Are you sure Nick? You never let anyone drive your truck…well unless you're drunk….what's going on with you?"

"Nothing…I'm fine Sara."

"Damn it Nick no your not. Look at you. You are obviously in a lot of pain. You are keeled over holding onto the truck for support. You are perspiring like crazy and you have the nerve to tell me that nothing's wrong!"

"Fine…it's my side. It started acting up this evening at the lab."

"What does the pain feel like?"

"It's a sharp pain."

"It's a sharp pain? Does it feel like a muscle pull or something more?"

"I don't think it's a muscle pull. At first I thought so because the pain was dull, but as the night went on the pain got worse or rather it's getting worse."

"Well I think we should get you to the hospital."

"No Sara…not yet. We only have a few hours of shift left. I can handle this. I will go to the hospital after shift is over."

"Nick you just asked me to drive. How on earth are you going to get yourself to the hospital?"

"The hospital is only a couple of blocks away from the lab. I should be able to handle a drive that far. Look Sara I start my vacation in a few hours. I would hate to have to take sick time before vacation, besides I don't want Grissom thinking that I'm pulling a 'Warrick' or something."

Sara looked at Nick and thought about what he said. "Look you could have appendicitis or something. Do you really want to take the chance of having your appendix rupture just because your worried about what Grissom might think?"

"Sara I just don't want anybody to start worrying about me again. I don't need that and I don't need everyone fussing over me. I will handle this when I'm off shift." Nick paused for a minute then continued. "I'll tell you what…when shift is over I will go straight to the emergency room and once I find out what's wrong I will call and let you…O.K?"

Nick looked at Sara with pleading eyes, she hated when he did that. Then she started laughing to herself. Nick took the bait.

"What so funny?"

"Well I was thinking you could always take Mr. Jones up on that ride."

"Sara Sidle you are lucky that I'm in pain right now or I'd have you tied up and thrown in the back of the truck." Nick said with a smile.

She let out a deep sigh getting serious again, "It's going against my better judgment Nick, but I won't say anything to anyone. You have to promise me though that if the pain gets any worse you will leave for the hospital immediately."

"Sure Sara…That I can do."

"OK. Let's head back to the lab." Nick tossed her the keys as she climbed in.

"You do realize that whoever is driving picks the radio station." Sara said.

"It's still my truck, but since you are doing me a favor I'll allow you to listen to that station of your…"

Sara didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence before she changed the radio station and headed back into the lab.

* * *

There you have it Chapter 3. Trust me the action, suspense, drama will be coming shortly. In the interim please review. Thanks! see ya next chapter. 


	4. Chapter 4

Hi everyone...thanks for the great reviews. I was able to respond to most of you. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.

* * *

Warrick and Catherine drove in silence as they neared their assigned crime scene. After Warrick's surprise marriage their relationship, both professional and personal, had been a little strained and awkward. 

Warrick had cornered Catherine one day and Catherine had been honest with him. Since then nothing had been quite the same.

"So do you know what Nick has planned for his vacation?" Catherine asked to break the silence.

"You had to go and remind me," he said jokingly. "I think he plans on just resting and getting a few things done around the house."

Catherine nodded in understanding; "Yea I'm taking Lindsey to Colorado for some skiing in November. I can't wait. Nothing but snow and hot chocolate for us."

"I hear ya."

The black SUV pulled into the parking lot of the Little Vegas Miniature Golf Course. As usual there was a police car present. The two CSIs exited their vehicle as the coroner's van pulled up. Both CSIs looked over to see Dave the assistant coroner hop out of the van.

"Hey guys."

"Hey David…I thought you were over with Grissom handling another DB?" Catherine said.

"Nope it was a prank. There was no body there. It was a mannequin and it looked real. Talk about a waste of time. Grissom wasn't too happy about it."

"Yea well I can imagine. I would think that people would have better things to do then to mess with us." Warrick said.

During the conversation each of them had retrieved their various kits and such and headed into the golf course.

"You said that you've been here before Catherine."

"Yep…I've been here about two or three times with Lindsey. It's a nice little course. Not to difficult or anything and pretty inexpensive." She said looking around. " I wonder where our detective is?"

"Maybe he's just running behind...I don't see any other cars around here."

The three of them made there way into the course. Catherine and Warrick took the lead in. They would take a few quick shots of the body before Dave went in to check it. The body was facedown on the putting green of the third hole. There appeared to be no blood and no signs of a struggle. One lone officer walked up to them trying really hard not to look at the body, the body that the CSIs were already eyeing.

"Good evening officer…I'm Catherine Willows, this is Warrick Brown we are with the Crime Lab and this is Dave Phillips with the coroner's office."

"I'm glad you guys are here, I was starting to get a little spooked." The young officer said.

"If I may ask where's the detective assigned to this case?" Catherine asked.

"He's right here."

They all turned around to see Detective Jim Brass standing there.

"Sorry I'm late, but I've been running around town all night."

Catherine and Warrick glanced at each other.

"Why what's going on Jim?" Catherine asked.

Brass walked up to the group, "It seems we have a prankster in our midst. Someone is leaving mannequins around and calling it in as a dead body. I have already been to two this evening and have been informed by Vartann that he just left one with Grissom. So do we have a live one here or not?"

The four of them turned to look at the young officer.

"Look I know how you guys work. I didn't touch a thing including the body. I stayed way clear of it."

"Well let me take a look at it." Dave said as he walked over to the body bending down. The CSIs and detective watched as the assistant coroner examined the body. He stood up and looked at them.

"It's another mannequin."

"Well I don't know about you, but I don't think this is very funny. This person or persons are keeping us from doing our jobs. If I ever get my hands on them I'll…" Brass didn't finish the sentence.

Catherine looked at Brass, "You said that you've had two and Vartann has had one, now this one that makes four. O.K. we are going to treat this like a real crime scene. If these guys want to play with us then they are going to regret it. Warrick I want you to start checking around the location see if you can find anything…shoe prints, cigarette butts…you know the drill. I'm going to start taking pictures. When you are done we are going to take the mannequin back to the lab and see what we can learn about him."

"Yea well I'm going to call dispatch and see if I can get my hands on those 911 tapes. Hopefully we'll get lucky and get a number or some kind of lead from them. I follow up with you guys later." Brass turned around and spoke directly to the officer. "Stay here with them until they leave. Do not let them out of your sight."

Catherine and Warrick looked at each other when Brass said that. It was obvious that Brass still wasn't over Nick's abduction and wanted to reiterate the fact that it was the officer's job to watch over them, a fact that Catherine and Warrick didn't mind one bit.

"Yes sir."

Brass took one more look at the mannequin that was now face up with a silly smile on his face, shook his head with disgust, walked over to his car, got in and drove off.

Dave looked at the CSIs, "Well it looks like my work here is done. This sure is turning out to be a busy night even without the bodies. See you guys later."

"Bye David we'll see you back at the lab."

He picked up his gear and headed back to his van. Though he didn't like to be put out he was happy that there wasn't a body. At least that was one less family that would have to be notified.

The two CSIs went through the golf course with a fine toothcomb. They were able to find a few things, some shoeprints and a cigarette butt. Their main piece of evidence however, still wasn't talking. They packed the mannequin into the back of Warrick's SUV and headed back to the lab.

"What do you think Grissom is going to say about all this?" Warrick asked Catherine.

"I'm sure that he will say that the lab's time is valuable and that this will go to the back of the heap if we get any real crimes. I only hope that this person doesn't graduate to real bodies." Catherine replied back.

"I hear you."

"When we get back to the lab providing there's nothing pressing. I want to find out more about the other locations. I want to talk to the owner of the golf course we just left to find out if anyone had a key to get in. I can't imagine that it would have been easy to carry that mannequin out here and I'm betting that there is more than one person involved."

"Is that your woman's intuition talking?"

"No it's just that I had to help you carry the mannequin and you are in shipshape condition my friend. So if you needed help then I would imagine our little jokesters needed help as well."

"You got a point there."

"Yep that's why I get paid the big bucks." She responded back.

"Really?"

"No not really, but it's nice to say every once in awhile."

* * *

Nick and Sara had finally arrived back at the lab. Sara parked Nick's truck as close to the door as she could get so he wouldn't have to walk to far. 

"How are you feeling? Is the pain getting any worse?" she asked as she came around to help him out.

"The pain is about the same." He said getting out of the truck.

Sara grabbed his arm and started to help him into the lab.

"Sara remember you are keeping a secret if I walk in there with you holding onto me like that, well people are going to start suspecting something." He said to her.

"I'm sorry Nick I'm just concerned about you. Are you sure that you don't just want to go to the hospital?"

"Look Sara, I realize that I'm in a lot of pain here. I have an hour let of shift. I'm going to go over to Grissom's office to see if he will cut me loose, if he does then I will go straight to the hospital. If he doesn't then I will tell him about my pain, and he'll make me go to the hospital."

"Well isn't the whole point of this you going to the hospital. Who cares how Grissom finds out?" Sara replied.

"I guess I'm not making myself clear. Look all of my injuries and hospitalizations have happened while I've been working. I don't want them to start thinking of me as a hazard."

"Nick none of that stuff was your fault."

"I know that Sara, but let's just say that I'm stubborn. Look we can argue about his all day if you want, but the faster we get in there, the faster he may let me leave."

"OK. OK. Fine, but I'm walking behind you." She said.

"Why? Do you want to check out my rear or something?" Nick asked.

"Geez Nick get your mind out of the gutter, I only want to be behind you in case you _fall_, but since you mentioned I'm going to have to see what got Mr. Jones all riled up."

"Ha. Ha. You aren't really…"

"Nice very nice. All these years and I never really noticed. All those times you were bent over at those crime scenes, it's a good thing it was dark." She snorted.

"Did you just snort?" Nick asked.

"Nope all that pain must me affecting your hearing." She replied back. "Come on Mr. Stubborn let's get you over to Grissom's office. I will stay out in the hall while you talk to him."

"Thanks Sara…. You weren't really checking out my butt were you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." She said smirking.

The two CSIs made there way over to Grissom's office, he was sitting at his desk concentrating on the memo in front of him. Nick looked at Sara who mouthed _'Good Luck'_ to him. Nick took a deep breath and walked in as normal as he could. Grissom looked up.

"Hey Nick finished with you B & E already?"

"Uh yea, turned out that the son of the owner took the car for a joyride. He was bringing the car back when we were leaving. The owner didn't want to press charges."

"Well that's easy enough. Is Sara going to close the case then?"

"Yea she said that she would. What's going on with your DB?"

"It wasn't a DB it was a mannequin someone's idea of a joke." Grissom looked at his watch. "Look Nicky there's an hour left of shift we've got nothing pressing why don't you go ahead and take off."

Nick pepped up when he said that, "Really…thanks. I think I will. I'll see you guys in nine days. Thanks again!"

"Hey Nicky…have a nice vacation."

Nick turned and left the office. Sara was still in the hallway waiting for him to exit. As he came out of Grissom's office she turned to him with questioning eyes.

"Well…what did he say? Is he going to let you leave early?"

"Yes…I didn't have to say one word to him. He just told me to go."

"Good let's get you to the locker room then you are going to the hospital."

Nick and Sara walked down the hallway and had just gotten to the door of the DNA lab when Catherine and Warrick chose that moment to walk in with the mannequin, they slowly made there way towards them. Nick couldn't resist himself. He poked his head into the DNA Lab where Greg was hard at work.

"Hey Greg…looks like Catherine and Warrick have a date for you. Check it out."

Greg perked up when Nick said that. It was Greg's personality to try to be a ladies man, but he always failed quite miserably. He jumped up to get a quick look and ran to the door.

"What do we have a blond, brunette or redhead?" he said out loud.

Nick and Sara could resist laughing at Greg's face when he saw the mannequin.

"Nick man you are so cruel." He said with a smile.

"Sorry Greggo, I had to get one more in before I left. Speaking of which I'm out of here."

Warrick and Catherine just walked up when they heard Nick say that he was out of there.

"What leaving so soon?" Warrick asked.

"You know it. Grissom said it was slow so he's letting me head out early."

"Man…"

"Hey no complaining or I'm going to tell Tina about the other man in your life." He said grinning, looking down at the mannequin

"Speaking of men in people's lives…" Sara piped up.

"Well look at the time I guess I should be going. I'll see you guys in nine days. If you'll excuse us for a second I need to square away a few things with Sara." He grabbed her arm and yanked her into the locker room.

"What was that all about?" Catherine asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Warrick replied with a sinister grin. "Let's get this dummy back to the lab."

"I'm with you."

Sara stumbled as she was pulled into the locker room.

"Nick what the hell."

"You were going to tell them." He said.

"Hey you started it."

"OK. I started it, but please don't say anything. I'll never hear the end of it."

"I can't make any promises Nick. You know how Warrick is. Once he corners you then look out."

"Yea, yea I guess your right but don't offer any information. Only if they specifically ask." He said removing his holster and putting it in his locker.

He grabbed his gym bag from the locker and went through it. He pulled out a CD player and made sure it was working. He used it sometimes when he had to concentrate. The music helped him. He figured he could use it at the hospital. There was no telling how long he'd have to wait before he was seen. He threw a few more things into the bag. Shut his locker and looked at Sara.

"I'll give you a call as soon as I learn anything, but it may be a few hours. So don't panic. OK?"

"OK. already! Now will you please leave?"

"I'm gone."

Nick walked slowly out of the lab and got into his truck. He didn't know Sara was watching him. He started his truck and pulled out of the parking lot towards the hospital. About five minutes later Nick pulled into the parking lot of the emergency room. He parked his truck grabbed his gym bag and walked in.

He was surprised when he walked in that the Emergency room was just about empty. He had timed it well. He walked up to the admission area where an older woman sat. She had her white hair pulled back in a tight bun. She wore black rimmed glasses with a silver chain a long side them so they could hang from her neck. She looked up at her new arrival.

"Can I help you sir?"

"Yes. I need to see a doctor."

"And what seems to be the problem Mr.?"

"Stokes."

"Mr. Stokes."

"I'm not really sure, but I'm having a lot of pain in my right side. The pain has increased since this evening and it seems to be getting worse."

"OK. Mr. Stokes I'm going to need you to fill out some forms, then we'll get you in to see the doctor."

Nick filled out his forms and was asked to go sit in the waiting area until he was called. He was really starting to get uncomfortable when his name was finally called. After he had been put through the ringer with various tests a doctor finally came into his room.

"Mr. Stokes, I'm Dr. Grossman. I've looked over your test results and it looks like you have acute appendicitis."

* * *

Gee are any of you surprised? Hee hee...Well I hoped you liked the chapter. Now the story is going to get more interesting. Please review, review and review. See ya next chapter. Take care! 


	5. Chapter 5

Hi everyone...thanks again for the great reviews and continuing support on the story. Enjoy! And and special thanks to Tefla for doing the whole beta thing!

* * *

The ride from the emergency room was going to be a short one. The doctor had explained to Nick that he was going to be admitted because he had a case of acute appendicitis. It seemed that Nick was forever doomed with being in the hospital. He figured that by now he should have his own private suite. 

Nick's surgery was planned for that evening and the doctor had told him that they would perform a laproscopic appendectomy, that way the surgeon wouldn't have to make an as large incision, as opposed to the normal incision that was generally used. The recovery time would be faster, days instead of weeks. That made Nick a happy man, well as happy as one could be with appendicitis.

The orderly wheeled Nick into the elevator and pushed number four on the panel. At that moment Nick was thankful for the pain in his side, it kept him from thinking about small spaces like elevators. He held his gym bag tighter as if it would comfort him. He then heard the computerized voice in the elevator say _'This is the Fourth Floor'_ as the doors opened. The orderly silently moved Nick out of the elevator and turned left towards a bunch of rooms. Nick really didn't pay attention to where they were going he was more concerned with the pain he was feeling.

When the wheel chair stopped Nick looked up to see the room number and snickered. This caught the orderly by surprise.

"What's so funny Mr. Stokes?"

"Is this my room?" Nick asked.

"Yes sir…Room 419. Why?"

"Never mind…inside joke." Nick replied.

The orderly shrugged his shoulders and pushed Nick into the room.

As the two men entered Nick could see that the first bed was already occupied. The guy looked like he'd been put through the ringer. He had a cast on his right ankle and bruises all over his face. Nick could see that he was also wearing some sort of brace around his shoulders. He knew what that was; the man had obviously broken his collarbone. Nick recalled back when he broke his collarbone on his father's ranch. It was the first and last time he ever fell off his horse.

The orderly had just pushed the wheelchair up to the bed when a nurse came in.

"Good morning…Mr. Stokes. I'm Brenda and I will be your nurse during the dayshift. Let's get you settled in."

"Please call me Nick." He said.

"You got it Nick."

She came over and took the gym bag from Nick and placed it on the chair near the bed. The orderly locked the wheelchair as they both assisted Nick up and into bed. He grimaced in pain as he laid back. He was glad that he had come directly to the hospital. He wasn't sure that if had gone home if he would have made it. Thinking back now he was a real idiot. He should have listened to Sara the whole time. He could have put her life in danger if anything had gone wrong. The next time he saw her he would be sure to apologize.

After Nick was settled the orderly had left the room, but the nurse remained.

"Mr. Stokes I'm going to have to start an IV on you, but before I do that I need to ask you a few questions."

"OK." Nick waited for that dreaded question.

"Are you allergic to anything?"

And there it was, Nick stopped briefly before he answered, "…Yes I'm allergic to bug bites."

"OK. and how long would you say that's been?"

"Close to a year."

"I see and what happens?"

Nick looked at the questioning nurse he knew that she was just doing her job, but why did he feel like he was being interrogated?

"Um…I have trouble breathing."

"OK. are you allergic to any medications?"

He was relieved that she didn't pursue the matter he really wasn't up to discussing his past brush with death.

"None that I know of."

"Two more questions. When was the last time you ate? And what did you eat?"

"Hmm…let's see. I would say I had a banana and an orange around 10:30 last night and a cup of coffee."

"Great. Let me get this IV started and then you can rest."

Nick watched her as she expertly started the IV in his arm. He was told numerous times that he had great veins like that was something to be proud of.

"What are the chances of getting something to eat around here?" Nick asked.

"Sorry Nick no food for you. You are going into surgery tonight, if you eat anything it could cause problems. You will be getting all your nutrition from the IV now."

"But I'm hungry." He whined.

"I'm sure you are, but there are no exceptions no matter how much you whine." She paused, "You can have some ice chips, but that's even pushing it. OK?"

"Thanks. I need something."

Just as the nurse was leaving the patient in the first bed jumped and yelled out. She quickly ran over to him.

"Mr. Schultz can you hear me?"

The patient had slowly opened his eyes. It took him awhile to focus on the nurses' voice. He looked down at himself then around the room and realized that he was in the hospital. He suddenly started to panic.

"Where are my clothes?" he screamed moving around in the bed.

"Mr. Schultz please calm down and I will show you your clothes," The nurse said.

Nick had jumped at the initial outburst, but relaxed when his roommate did. He was hoping that he wasn't going to be like this all the time.

The nurse walked over to a closet where she removed a bag of clothes.

"You clothes are right here Mr. Schultz, shoes and all. OK? Now if you would please settle down. I don't want you hurting yourself anymore than you are."

"Sorry about that. I must have been dreaming or something."

"That's OK. Do you need anything? I'm getting some ice chips for yourroommate."

"No thanks I'm good." He said glancing over at Nick.

The nurse left and returned shortly with Nick's ice chips.

"Now Nick you are scheduled for surgery at 7:30pm. The orderlies will be here to get you around 6:30pm. Try and get some rest. If your pain gets any worse ring the call button ... OK?"

"Sure thing …thanks."

The nurse left the two men alone. Though Nick was tired he was curious about the man he was sharing the room with. He guessed it was the investigator in him. He looked over to the guy in the next bed and introduced himself.

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier…I'm Nick. I'd get up and shake your hand, but I don't think I could get out of bed."

"Dustin Schultz its nice to meet you Nick and trust me when I say I know how you feel. So what are you in for?"

"Appendicitis." Nick answered. "You?"

"Hit by a car."

"That's got to hurt."

"Oh yea, I can honestly say that's one experience I never want to repeat."

"I hear you."

At first Dustin wasn't sure what to think of his new roommate. He seemed like a likeable guy and was certainly friendly enough. He wondered if this guy could be used for his purposes. It was obvious that his hit-and-run was no accident the more he thought about it. He wondered if they would be coming for him. He had to ditch the disk somewhere. Dustin was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Nick gasp in pain.

"You OK over there?"

"Yeah, just peachy." Nick responded.

"So Nick what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a Crime Scene Investigator for the Las Vegas Police Department."

Dustin couldn't believe his luck. _'Should he trust this guy?_'

"You're a cop?" he asked.

"No … I'm not a cop. I'm just a scientist who wears a gun."

"Must be interesting work."

"It can be … How about you? What do you do?" Nick asked to change the subject.

"I'm afraid my job isn't as exciting as yours. I'm a programmer at Capral Enterprises."

"Hey man your job is as exciting as you make it." Nick let out a deep sigh. "Man I'm exhausted. If you don't mind I'm going to sack for a few hours."

"Sure no problem." Dustin said as he was formulating his plan.

* * *

After Jake Evers had received the call from Harris he wasn't able to go back to sleep. He knew that if anyone got a hold of that disk that it would ruin him. It hadn't been the first time that he had crossed the line to get ahead of the game. He had ordered some bad things to be done and luckily enough he had Harris to do the dirty work. 

He still sat in his bedroom, but at his well-polished desk sipping another scotch. He kept eyeing the phone willing it to ring. Finally the phone rang causing Evers to flinch. He reached over and picked it up.

"Yea."

"It's Harris…he got away."

"What do you mean he got away!" he said slamming his drink down on the desk.

"We nailed him as he was crossing the street."

"And?"

"Well before we had a chance to come around he was surrounded by people. We'll finish him off at the hospital and get the disk back. We already went through his car and didn't find anything, he must still have the disk on him."

"Harris you better take care of this or I will find someone that will."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Sara was relieved when Nick drove off. She still wasn't comfortable with him driving in his condition, but she was glad that he was going straight to the hospital. She hoped that he would remember to call her, but knowing him he would forget. She knew that Nick had Grissom and the rest of them as emergency contacts if god forbid something happened. She looked at her watch shift was just about over and she planned on heading over to the hospital to be with Nick whether he wanted the company or not. 

She walked into the locker room and just sat down on the bench when the door opened. She looked up to see Catherine peek her head in.

"You about ready to head out?"

"Yea I was getting ready to … why?"

"They found a floater … Day Shift wants us to handle it. They are getting swamped."

"But..."

"I'm sorry Sara, but both Warrick and I are going to."

'_Well so much for going to the hospital to be with Nick'_ she thought to herself.

"OK. Give me a minute."

"Sure I'll meet you outside." Catherine turned around and left the locker room.

Sara let out a big sigh sometimes she hated her job especially when it kept her from important things like being with a friend when he was sick. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Nick's number. After a few rings she heard.

'_Hey it's Nick sorry I can't take your call, but if you leave a message I will get back to you as soon as I can.'_

"Hey Nick…its Sara I'm just wondering how you are doing. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that no news is good news, but you better call me. They found a floater so it looks like we are going to be working a double. I will try and give you a call sometime today. I hope you are feeling better. Bye!"

She hung up the phone and felt horrible that she couldn't be there for him, but Nick was a CSI and understood the job. He knew it wasn't anything personal. She got up from the bench and walked out the door and headed to her next assignment.

* * *

Nick didn't realize he had slept so long until the nurse woke him up for surgery. He opened his eyes to see her standing in front of him along with two orderlies. 

"Nick…we are going to be taking you to surgery now. They will be putting you under with a general anesthesia. The surgery itself shouldn't be to long, but you will be in recovery for about an hour after the surgery and then they'll bring you back up here. OK?"

Nick nodded his head in understanding and started to sit up when the nurse put her hand on his chest.

"Nick just let us to the work."

The nurse removed the blankets that covered Nick and the three hospital employees slid Nick over to the waiting gurney and covered him back up. Dustin watched all this with fascination. He was actually looking forward to Nick leaving. He wanted to stash the disk before someone found him and what better place then his unsuspecting roommate who happened to work for the police department.

Dustin felt badly he didn't really want to involve another person in his mess, but he really didn't have a choice. It was imperative that he get the disk to the authorities and if he had to do it in a round about way then so be it. He had secretly decided that he would tell Nick the whole story tomorrow morning, when both of them were feeling better. In just speaking with Nick for a short time he seemed like he was a nice enough guy and could be trusted with such a valuable object.

He watched as they wheeled Nick out of the room and he wished Nick luck with his surgery. Dustin waited for about twenty minutes and when he was sure that no one else was coming back to the room he slowly sat himself up scrunching his eyes in pain. The broken collarbone was making it difficult to get out of bed. He worked through the pain and was finally able to sit up, he then stepped down off the bed onto his good leg bringing the broken one down gently. He was happy that whoever had set the cast made it so he could walk on it.

He limped over to his closet and pulled out his shoes. He opened the heel to find the disk still there. He closed his eyes in relief. Until that moment he was scared that the disk had been lost. He placed his shoe back into the closet and walked over to Nick's closet. Dustin opened the closet door slowly like he was expecting someone to jump out at him. He peeked in and saw Nick's gym bag placed on the first shelf.

Dustin stopped suddenly when he heard voices at the door, but then they passed. He released the breath that he had been holding and grabbed Nick's bag. He unzipped it to find Nick's jeans and shirt, his shoes and a CD player…perfect!

He opened the player and removed the CD that was sitting in there. He placed the disk he had into the CD player and placed Nick's CD back on top of it. He put the CD player back into the gym bag and zippered it back up. He smiled at himself that was as good as any hiding place that he could think of.

Dustin slowly made his way back to his bed, but with a little extra flare. He knew that the disk was safe and tomorrow it would be in the hands of the police.

* * *

Visiting hours were over when Robert Harris pulled into the hospital parking lot. He planned on making a short visit to Dustin Schultz room. He had manipulated the room number from the operator. The only thing he had to do now was sneak in unnoticed. 

Harris walked into the hospital like he was supposed to be there. He casually walked up and into the elevator. He pushed the fourth floor. As the elevator opened he walked out glancing in both directions he wanted to make sure that he wasn't seen. He knew that Schultz was in room 419 and slowly made his way towards that group of rooms. He stopped just in front of the room. He looked around again to make sure he wasn't spotted before walking in.

* * *

Dustin had finally fallen asleep when he suddenly felt a presence in the room. He opened his eyes to see Robert Harris standing next to the bed with a pillow in his hands. Dustin's eyes grew large as he saw the intent in Harris's eyes. He never got the chance to scream before Harris put the pillow over his head. He tried to push the pillow off his face, but with the broken collarbone he didn't have the strength to do it. He could slowly feel the darkness coming and then he knew no more.

* * *

Nick's surgery had gone well with no complications. He was now in his room and resting comfortably. The nurse had given him some pain medicine to help him sleep. He had just nodded off when he heard Dustin struggling. He looked over to see a man standing beside Dustin's bed with a pillow over his head. He could see Dustin struggling to get out from under the pillow, but it was a futile effort. Nick tried to sit up to help, but he couldn't. He was unsure of what to do. His thoughts came back when he heard Dustin's struggling cease. He looked over only to see the man staring back at him.

* * *

Well there you have it chapter 6. I hoped you liked it. As usual please review. Thanks! 


	6. Chapter 6

Hi everyone, thanks again for all of the reviews. I really appreciate. I'm glad that you guys enjoyed the last chapter. Here's the next one. Enjoy!

* * *

Nick held his breath as the man crossed the room getting closer and closer to him. He started to panic. He inadvertently reached down to grab his gun, but forgot where he was. His hand accidentally hit the call button lying on his bed. Just as the man neared his bed with the pillow that had suffocated Dustina voice filled the room. 

"Can I help you?"

The man jumped at the sudden intrusion and it gave Nick just enough time.

"Help…get security! We need…."

The man took two quick steps and silenced Nick by placing the pillow over his head. Nick knocked over his IV stand struggling with Harris. Though he had just had surgery his survival instincts kicked in. He pushed with all his might to stop the pressure from increasing and cutting off his air.

During the struggle he was suddenly brought back to the moment when he was kidnapped. He could still remember the smell of the ether and not being able to breath as the cloth was held up to his face. He fought with more vigor, but he could fell himself weakening. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. He hoped that his call for help would be answered.

Harris was starting to overpower Nick when he heard a gasp at the door. He turned to see a nurse standing in the doorway. He dropped the pillow and bolted out the door knocking the nurse to the ground.

The nurse screamed from the floor in the doorway, "I need security in Room 419 now!"

She got up off the floor and ran over to Nick who was clutching his side and gasping for air. She attempted to help him, but he pushed her hand away.

"No help him." He gasped and pointed to Dustin, "…not breathing." Nick could feel himself slipping away and finally fell unconscious.

The nurse checked Nick's pulse and felt a strong but fast beat. She then ran over to Dustin and checked his pulse. She found none.

She grabbed the phone at the side of the bed and pressed the number 5 for a code blue alert and announced.

"Code Blue Room 419, Code Blue Room 419, Code Blue Room 419." She hung up the phone forcefully.

Suddenly a voice echoed throughout the hallways of the whole hospital announcing her code. Within moments the room was swarming with both doctors and nurses.

After thirty minutes of shock, medical intervention and intubation Dustin's death was called at 0113.

The room slowly cleared out leaving Doctor Grossman, the nurse and two security guards standing there looking at Dustin's lifeless body.

The nurse shook her head and said trying to compose herself, "I can't believe this."

"Maureen did you get a look at the man who did this?" the doctor asked.

"No I didn't, he ran out of here pretty fast. I'm sure Mr. Stokes could probably identify him though." The four people turned to look at the unconscious man in the other bed. "Mr. Stokes was awake when I came in ... in fact he was the one that called for help. The pain must have finally gotten to him fighting with that guy."

The doctor shook his head in understanding; he faced the security guards, "Have the police been notified yet?"

"Yes sir…they should be here shortly."

"OK I want both of you standing outside this door until they get here. No medical personnel are allowed in here unless its either myself or Maureen."

The two guards nodded their heads in understanding and left the room.

Doctor Grossman took one more look at Dustin before he walked around the drape and up to the unconscious CSI on the bed. He looked over to see the IV stand on the floor with a puddle of fluid next to it. There was dried blood on Nick's right hand from where the IV had been pulled out during the attack. The murder weapon - the pillow was still lying across Nick's torso.

"I'm going to examine him to make sure that his incision is OK." He said to the nurse.

The doctor had just made it over to Nick when he groaned and shifted in bed. He slowly opened his eyes and remembered what happened. His eyes darted around the room to make sure that his attacker was gone. He finally noticed the doctor and nurse looking at him. He lifted and turned his head to look at Dustin only to see the drape drawn. He could tell by the looks in their faces that Dustin hadn't made it. He lowered his head back down and sighed.

"Dustin didn't make it?" Nick asked in a soft whisper.

"I'm afraid not." The doctor answered. "Nick I'm going to need to examine you."

"No." Nick replied.

"Nick you are safe here. We will not harm you."

Nick's eyes started closing again, but before he completely went out he said two words that he hoped the doctor would understand.

"I'm evidence."

* * *

It started off as another slow night in the lab. Each CSI was working on something. For Warrick and Catherine they were still working on their dummy. They had received a 911 the previous morning for a body in the water. When they arrived on scene with Sara, it was another dummy. That pissed Catherine off to no end. 

They had dug in and went over that site as best they could. After doing so, they grabbed the other dummy and brought that one to be processed as well. Catherine had asked Sara and Greg to work the evidence from that scene while she and Warrick worked the golf course dummy.

Just as the two groups were about to take a short break Grissom walked in with Brass. The four CSIs looked up.

"Hey guys we were just about to take a break, you want to join us?" Catherine asked.

"No guys we just got a call. I need all hands on this. We have a 419 at Desert Palms."

"Well how do we know this was a murder?" Sara asked.

"Because there's a witness." Brass answered. "It appears the patient Dustin Schultz was murdered and the roommate witnessed it."

"Well that roommate is one lucky man." Warrick said.

"Luck had everything to do with it. The killer came after him as well. He was able to hit the call button before his attacker completely subdued him. A nurse came in and called security."

"Well are we sure that the killer and this roommate aren't working together?" Catherine asked.

"That's all the information I have. I don't even have the roommates name yet so let's get over there." Brass responded back.

When Grissom had mentioned the hospital it reminded Sara of Nick. She had left him a number of messages and he still hadn't called her back. She figured it could have been a number of reasons why he didn't call her back. 1 – He left his cell phone in his car. 2 – Turned his cell phone off. 3 – Is unconscious and can't answer. She hoped in her mind that it was one or two, but he could still have called her from the phone in the room. Which lead her to believe that it was number 3.

She knew she should have gone with him. She felt really bad for leaving him there. The next time she saw him she would apologize for leaving him high and dry in the hospital. She sighed then grabbed her kit and followed the rest of the gang to the parking lot.

The drive to the hospital was short. The dark SUV that Warrick was driving pulled in behind Brass. The group exited the vehicle grabbed their kits and walked into the hospital.

As they walked in, the lobby was empty except for a few cops and some reporters. It always seemed that when there was a murder there was always a reporter around.

The group headed over and entered the elevators. Brass pushed the number four on the panel. He turned to speak to the group while the elevator slowly pulled them up to their destination.

"OK only you guys will see the humor in this, but it appears that the 419 happened in Room 419." Brass said with a smirk.

"You've got to be kidding." Catherine said.

"I wish I was."

They exited the elevator only to be greeted by some uniformed cops. They were guarding against any reporters that could be snooping around. Not to mention the important fact that a killer was still loose.

The CSIs made their way over to Room 419 where two more cops were standing there guarding the door. The group stopped and Grissom turned to face them.

"OK here's how we are going to work this. Greg I want you to get with security to see if there's anything on surveillance from both inside and outside the hospital. Warrick I want you to handle the killer's escape route. Sara and Catherine I want you guys to work on the body as well as the room. I will handle the witness. Any questions?…OK Warrick and Greg why don't you head out."

"We'll catch you guys later." Warrick and Greg walked back towards the elevator and stairwell.

"You guys ready?" Grissom asked.

"Excuse me, but before you go into my patient's room I would like to have a word with you."

The group turned around to see a doctor standing there he casually made his way up to the group.

"Good evening Doctor…I'm Detective Jim Brass from Homicide. This is Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle with the Crime Lab. We are here to investigate the murder of Dustin Schultz."

"Yes of course. I'm Dr. Grossman."

"What did you want to talk to us about Doctor?" Grissom asked.

"I just wanted to find out what you were going to be doing with my patient."

"Which one Dr. Grossman, the living or the dead one?" Brass asked.

"The living one actually. He's been through a lot tonight and I want to make sure that he's taken care of. I put my patient's health before anything."

"And so you should." Grissom answered. "We are just going to ask him a few questions."

"Dr. Grossman I understand patient privacy and all, but do you think that this patient could have helped the killer?" Catherine asked.

"Not likely…this man just had surgery this evening. He was just barely able to fight off the killer. If the nurse had been another minute or two we would have two bodies in there instead of one. He's only now just regained consciousness again."

"One more question Doctor before we go in there. Did you move anything or touch anything?" Sara asked.

"Well after the killer left the room the nurse called a code blue and we tried for a half an hour to revive the patient obviously without success. There were approximately eight people in the room we were moving back and forth so I would imagine that yes we did touch some things and I apologize for that. Its hard to worry about those things when you are trying to save someone's life."

A voice suddenly echoed through the hallway _'Dr. Grossman call on extension 440.'_

"If you'll excuse me I have to take that, but please be easy on him or I'll have you removed from the room."

"We'll try not to upset him. You have my word." Grissom responded back.

"Thanks." Doctor Grossman walked away from the group.

"OK guys let's get to work." Grissom said as they started to push open the door to the room and stopped when they heard the doctor's voice calling out to them again.

"Mr. Grissom not sure if it means anything to you or not, but after we tried to revive Mr. Schultz the other patient wouldn't let us touch him. At first we thought he was still afraid, but before he drifted off again he said two words to us…I'm evidence."

The CSIs looked at each other then at Brass.

"Did you touch him after that?" Grissom asked.

"No we decided to wait. We didn't want to do anything against his wishes. In fact his side of the room is as it was after the crime. Nothing has been cleaned up. I'm sorry I didn't say that earlier I'm sure you understand how stressful this all is."

"We do," replied Brass. "If I may I would like to speak with the nurse that came into the room."

"Sure follow me." Brass followed the doctor over to the nurse's station as the three CSIs walked into the ill-fated room. The body of Dustin Schultz was lying on the bed uncovered. His eyes were closed, but he had a blue pallor to his skin a clear sign of suffocation. The drape had been pulled to obviously give the other patient some privacy and to not have him reminded of the body that was lying next to him.

They rarely got cases like this, but it was normal procedure to keep the other patient in the room until all evidence had been collected. Once they had collected all the evidence and questioned this witness the patient would be allowed to go into another room.

Sara and Catherine had set their kits down and started to look around the room as Grissom continued towards the other patient. As he made his way towards the other bed he could see movement coming from under the sheets. It appeared that their witness was awake just like the doctor said. He cleared his throat and announced himself before walking around the drapes.

"Gil Grissom with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I'm here to ask you a few questions about what happened tonight."

* * *

Well there you have it. I hoped you liked it. As usual please review! Thanks! 


	7. Chapter 7

Wow...thanks everyone for those great reviews. I really appreciate it. I don't know about you guys, but I have to say I was way disappointed with this past weeks episode. I won't go into any detail for those of you who haven't seen it yet.They so missed the boat. It could have been oh so much more. But since there's this thing called Fanfiction we can make it anyway we want..right!

I think I admitted to each of you that reviewed how nervous I was about writing this chapter. I have to admit I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out...I hope you are to. Enjoy!

* * *

When Nick woke up he found himself alone. He looked around the room to assess the scene. He remembered what he had said to the doctor about being evidence. With the condition of the room the doctor had understood the message and didn't touch anything. 

He looked down to see the pillow still on his chest. Though the pillow was very light it felt very heavy to him. He stared at it, something that was supposed to be of comfort turned into a murder weapon. The victim in him wanted to push the pillow off and onto the floor, but the CSI in him said it had to stay put.

He sighed inwardly. He assumed that the police had been notified and wondered how much longer until they arrived on scene. It was one thing investigating a murder, but it was quite different being a witness to one. Not only that, he would probably be considered a suspect. Though he was used to being around dead bodies this whole situation made him uncomfortable.

He took a quick glance at the drape separating Dustin's body and him - the lucky and the unlucky. Nick never considered himself lucky, but in this case he was. He was lucky he hit the call button when he did; he was lucky the nurse had come in when she did.

He let his head fall back onto his pillow. Up to this point he was able to block most of the pain out for a while, but now that both the adrenaline and medication wore off it returned with a vengeance. He tried not to concentrate on it, he wished there was something to take his mind off of it.

Nick suddenly heard voices from just outside his room. _'Finally a diversion'_ he thought to himself. The door opened and he heard footsteps as the group entered the room. He wondered who was there no one had spoken yet. He made a poor attempt at pulling himself higher in the bed when he heard the voice from the other side of the drape.

"Gil Grissom with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I'm here to ask you a few questions about what happened tonight."

Nick froze when he heard the voice from the other side of the drape. '_Grissom…Grissom was here. Oh God!'_ as if he didn't already have enough problems? _'Great!'_ He seriously considered hiding under his covers _'Oh yea nice thought Nick…Grissom comes in and sees you hiding under the covers he's definitely going to think you lost it.' _

He wasn't sure why he was panicking he knew the procedures. Why he didn't realize it sooner was beyond him. Nick took in a couple of deep calming breaths, but jumped when he heard Grissom's voice again.

"Excuse me sir, may I come over?"

Grissom knew the patient was awake he saw him move. He wasn't sure what the problem was. The doctor didn't mention anything about the patient being hard of hearing. He turned around to see Sara and Catherine looking at him. He shrugged and was just about to reach for the drape, when he heard a voice from the other side answer him.

Nick knew the meeting was inevitable, he would have to face Grissom soon enough. When he thought about it there really wasn't anything that he had done wrong. He was officially on vacation and it wasn't his fault that he had gotten appendicitis. He took another calming breath, cleared his voice and answered.

"Yea come on over."

The voice sounded familiar to Grissom as he pulled back the drape. He glanced back at Catherine and Sara one more time. When he turned his head to look at the patient he was face to face with Nick.

Grissom stood there … speechless. It wasn't often that he didn't have anything to say. He let his emotions take over, something that he rarely if ever allowed. He wasn't sure what to feel first.

Shock obviously was the first thing that came to mind. Nick was the last person he would have thought to be in that bed.

Anger was a close second. He was angry with Nick for not letting them know he was in the hospital and he had surgery to top it off.

He was also relieved to know that Nick was OK. He had survived the attack and would be able to help in the investigation as a witness to the murder.

But finally concern won out. Nick was part of his team, part of his family. He was sure there were reasons or circumstances as to why Nick didn't notify them. He walked to the front of Nick's bed and looked down at his CSI.

Nick tried to read the look on Grissom's face, but as usual the CSI hid his emotions well. They both stared at each other in silence for only seconds, but to Nick it felt like eternity. Finally Nick cleared his throat.

"Grissom I…" he said weakly.

Grissom put his hand up to silence Nick. He could see the look of uncertainty and worry etched in his eyes. This man in front of him witnessed a murder tonight and was nearly killed and here he was afraid of facing his supervisor. He needed to ease Nick's mind. He placed his kit down next to the wall and carefully walked up to the side of the bed.

"How are you doing?" Grissom asked with concern.

"I could be better." Nick answered honestly.

"From what I hear you had quite the evening."

"Yea…you could say that."

"I just did." Grissom said with a smile. "Nick, I'm really glad you are alright."

"Thanks Grissom."

"Anytime." Grissom quickly scanned the room and came back to Nick. "Now I understand what the doctor meant."

"You talked to my doctor?"

"Briefly. He didn't give me any details about your condition, but he did mention that you said you were evidence. Now it makes sense. Only a CSI would say that."

"Yea they wanted to examine me. I said no." Nick paused for a minute. "I don't mean to rush you and all, but I'm really hurting here and I'm going to need something soon. So do you think you could get started?"

"Sure thing Nick…would you mind more company?"

"Not as long as they can process a scene and visit at the same time." Nick responded with a smile.

"I'll see what I can arrange." He moved away from his position next to Nick and walked over to the drape. He looked around it to see Catherine and Sara processing. He wasn't surprised that neither of them heard anything since Nick was still in a great deal of pain and was talking with a weak voice.

"Catherine, Sara would you come over here I want you to meet the witness." Grissom said.

"Look Gil, we need to process this scene so we can move the witness out of here." Catherine responded.

"Yes Catherine I realize that, but I really think you're going to want to meet this patient first."

Catherine put her hands up in surrender and both her and Sara walked over to Grissom. He smiled at them.

"You aren't going to believe this and Catherine you may think twice about considering this person being a suspect." He stepped to the side allowing both Sara and Catherine to see the witness.

"Nick you're the witness!" Catherine exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

"Appendicitis."

"I knew it." Sara said.

Grissom looked at Sara it wasn't often that he was surprised twice in one evening, but it looked like tonight was one of those nights.

"Am I to understand Sara that you knew about Nick's condition and didn't tell the rest of us?"

Sara looked at Nick, but Nick answered. "Yes Grissom she knew, but I asked her not to say anything."

"Why?" Catherine asked.

"Call it stubbornness. I just didn't want you guys to worry about me. I have put you through enough already. It seems that no matter how hard I try I always wind up in trouble." He looked over to Sara. "Sara I put you in a bad position, it was wrong and I'm really sorry."

"Nick we'll worry about all that later. For now let's focus on the room and getting all of the evidence processed. Starting with this."

Grissom looked down at the pillow on Nick's chest. He could tell by Nick's body language that that pillow had weighed an awful lot. It must have taken every ounce of will and determination to not push that pillow off. He began by taking pictures of it from every angle.

Nick just lay there and observed. He felt a little self-conscience, though his friends did everything they could to not to make him feel that way he still did. Even though he didn't want to admit it he was a victim – again. He closed his eyes as the flash from the camera went off.

"We're almost done Nicky, then I want to ask you some questions about what happened." Grissom said.

Nick just nodded quietly. He was amazed at how fast and precise Grissom, Catherine and Sara had covered the room. He knew they were professionals, but he rarely if ever watched them do their jobs. Well except one other time.

He watched as the two female CSIs packed up their evidence. Both women walked over and each gave him a peck on the cheek before walking out. He watched as the coroner removed the lifeless body of Dustin Schultz. It seemed time was standing still. He didn't realize that someone was talking to him until he felt a tap on the arm. He looked over to see Grissom looking at him.

"I'm sorry Grissom what did you say?"

"I said are you ready to tell me what happened?"

"Yea sure. Where do you want me to start?"

"Why don't you start from the beginning…" Grissom suggested.

Before Nick started the door opened and Jim Brass walked in.

"When the nurse told me the name of the witness I just had to see it for myself." Brass walked over to the bedridden CSI. "How are you doing Nick?"

"Well under the circumstances I guess I'm doing OK. I was just about to tell Grissom about my evening."

"Oh...well good. As usual my timing is impeccable." Jim said with a smile. He pulled a chair over to the bed and reached into his jacket and pulled out a pad of paper. He looked to Nick waiting for him to start.

Nick knew that was his queue to start and he did just as Grissom suggested he started at the beginning, which for him was his shift. He explained about the pain in side that he had through shift. He then went into arriving at the hospital and his prognosis.

"They wheeled me up here from the emergency room. I actually laughed when I saw the room number."

"Yea well imagine how we felt when we heard we had a 419 in room 419." Brass responded.

Nick smiled softly, "When I arrived in here the victim – Dustin was sleeping. After a few minutes he woke up disoriented worrying about his clothes. Once the nurse showed him his clothes he settled down. We introduced ourselves. He told me that he was a programmer at Capral Enterprises. After that I sacked out, with being up all night I was exhausted. The next thing I knew I was being woken up for surgery. When I left for surgery Dustin wished me luck. I came back from surgery I was still kind of out of it for a little while, but once the anesthesia wore off I was fine. I had just nodded off when I heard struggling coming from Dustin's side of the room I looked over to see a man standing over Dustin and he was holding a pillow over his head..."

Nick stopped for a moment lost in the thought. Grissom and Brass both shared a look. They knew this had to have taken a toll on Nick. They waited patiently until Nick spoke again. His eyes were downcast looking at his sheet.

"I tried to get out of bed to help, but I couldn't I was still hurting to much. I wasn't sure what else I could do. Then it stopped…the struggling. I could no longer hear Dustin. He was dead, the guy looked at me, he knew I could identify him. He walked towards me with the pillow. Can you believe I actually reached for my gun? I had forgotten where I was. I must have accidentally hit the call button when I did that, because in less than a minute the nurse asked if I needed anything. That's when I screamed for help. I was only able to get a few words out before he had the pillow over my head."

Nick stopped again he could still feel the pillow over his head and the feeling of helplessness.

"Nick let's take a break. Do you want some water or anything?" Grissom asked.

"Yes to the water, but no to the break. I want to get this over with." Nick responded back to the two men.

Grissom poured Nick a glass of water that the nurse had brought during the interview. Grissom brought it over to Nick who accepted it gratefully. He two large sips from it and it seemed to have calm him down just a little.

"I'm sorry where was I?" Nick asked.

"You had just gotten to the part where the guy had put the pillow over your head." Brass mumbled.

Brass had been to privy to hundreds of interviews and interrogations it was always different when it was one of your own. He would have done anything to make this less painful for Nick, but there really was no sugarcoating murder. Nick had seen the assailant and was the only witness, this had to be done and Nick knew it.

"Oh yea…Thanks….um…he had just put the pillow over my head…I knocked the IV pole over trying to defend myself. I struggled with him, trying to keep the pillow away long enough, but I was starting to lose my strength. To tell you the truth I was surprised that I even had any after the surgery and all."

"It's called survival instinct Nicky and you have barrels of it." Grissom responded.

Nick took in the words that Grissom had said and continued, "He had just gotten the upper hand on me when all of the sudden the pressure stopped and the pillow was lifted. The guy had taken off out of the door. The nurse came up to me to help and I pushed her away told her to help Dustin. After that I don't remember much, I must have passed out. I woke up later with just the nurse, Doctor Grossman and two guards in the room. The doctor was just about to examine me when I told him not to touch me and that I was evidence. After that I must have passed out again. I only woke up minutes before you guys came in."

"Can you give us a description of the guy Nick?" Brass asked.

"I can tell you he was about 6'2, he looked to be in his mid-to-late 40's. He had brown hair. He also had a tattoo on his right forearm of a pit bull. He was wearing all black. There really wasn't anything else that stood out."

"Would you be able to identify him if you saw him again?"

"Yes definitely."

"Did Dustin give any indication that he was in danger?"

"No, but he was in here for a hit and run or at least that's what he told me."

"OK…Nick you did good. We are going to go back to the lab and process the evidence we found." Grissom said.

"In the meantime I'm going to get some mug books over here to see you could can identify this guy."

Both men got up from their seats they could see the relief on Nick's eyes that the interview was finally over. They could tell that he was getting tired.

"Nick one more thing before we leave. I know that you don't want to hear this, but…. we have posted two officers outside your door and they will move with you when you transfer rooms. This guy knows you can identify him. He may come back to finish you off."

"I understand…thanks. I guess this isn't the vacation I thought it was going to be."

"Vacation is so overrated anyway," Brass said as he walked out of the room.

"Nick, I want you to get some sleep. We'll be back later on this morning to check on you. If you need anything and I _mean_ anything you call or page me. Understand." He said touching Nick's shoulder.

"Sure Grissom."

"OK then. I'll see you later." Grissom gave him one last look before he left the room.

Brass was waiting for Grissom just outside the door.

"So what do you think Jim?" Grissom asked.

"You want my honest opinion I don't like it at all. I have feeling this guy is going to be back and come after Nick. We are going to have to watch him like a hawk. I don't think he realizes how much danger he is in."

"I have to disagree with you Jim I think Nick is all to aware of the danger he is in."

"Yea well I'll feel a lot better once we get this guy behind bars."

"You and me both."

* * *

Well there you have it. I hope none of you were disappointed. As usual I appreciate all thoughts good, bad or ugly. See you next chapter. Take care! 


	8. Chapter 8

Hi everyone...thanks again for all of the wonderful reviews. Its really appreciated. Sorry it took so long to update I can only sum it up in two words well actually three: SICK KIDS AHHHH!

Well anyway here it is and enjoy!

* * *

The emergency exit door flew open and a single man raced out. He maintained a steady pace going into the parking lot, occasionally stealing a glance behind him, making sure that he wasn't being followed. He finally arrived at a car in a darkened parking spot and jumped in. He then allowed himself to breathe. 

He sat there in silence, his heart beat the only sound. It always gave him a rush after he killed someone. It had been a long time since he felt that exhilarated. That exhilaration was quickly lost when he thought about the witness he left behind. He was so close to getting what he needed, but that damn nurse had come in.

When he was with his men earlier in the evening it was decided that he would handle this alone now he wished that he had taken them up on their offer. He would have to call them now that the situation was out of hand. Not only did he not have the disk, but now he could be identified and that was a problem.

He grabbed his cell phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Yea it's Harris … Dustin Schultz is dead."

When the phone rang in Jake Evers' office he was hoping for some good news or heads were going to roll.

"I take it you have the disk."

"Well sir we kind of hit another snag."

"What kind of snag?" Evers asked getting angrier by the minute.

"I didn't get a change to get the disk … the roommate called for help before I could look for it."

"Is the roommate dead?"

"No."

"Can he identify you?"

"Yes." Harris responded.

"Do you know what this means you idiot? If that guy can identify you it may lead the police back to us … how could you be so careless? I thought you were a professional, what the hell am I paying you for?"

"I am a professional Mr. Evers and I've never run into a problem that I couldn't handle. I will take care of this. I give you my word."

"How long?"

"I'm not sure. I will have to get the name of the other patient and do some investigating. Plus I will have to find out if the police have the disk. Though I'm guessing they don't just yet. Schultz didn't have any time between his so-called accident and his death to get the disk to the police. He probably hid it somewhere. We'll go back and check his car to see if it's there …"

"Look Harris I don't care what you have to do … just get it done." Evers said interrupting.

"Yes sir." Harris hung up the phone and then quickly dialed another number.

"Yea it's me. I need you guys to do a little informational recon for me. I need to know who was sharing the room with Dustin Schultz. I want his name, his address, where he works you know the drill. Also I want you to find out what the police know so far. What evidence? Who's working on the case? What leads if any? OK … Get back to me ASAP!"

Harris just started his car when the first of the police arrived on scene. They never noticed the small car leaving the parking lot. As Harris drove by the police cars he smiled to himself. If only they knew that the killer was only feet away from them. He was looking forward to his second encounter with that patient only this time he wasn't going to be so lucky.

* * *

Sara and Catherine had collected all the evidence from Nick's room as fast as they could. They knew the sick CSI was in pain and had been through a lot that evening. It seemed that Nick's fortitude was always being tested whether he wanted to admit it or not. 

When Sara first saw Nick sitting in that bed she immediately felt guilty. It was her fault that he was in this position. If she had just listened to her gut he wouldn't be in this predicament. He would have had friends around to be with him. Instead he was here by himself and nearly killed because she made a promise.

She was shocked when she heard Nick apologize, and she knew she'd be in big trouble with Grissom once all this was over as well as Nick. She had felt a little anxious while collecting the evidence. She really wasn't used to an audience, but there Nick was … watching. She knew he would never criticize and she had a feeling that he wasn't watching as a CSI, but as a victim. Sara watched as he closed his eyes during the pictures, they had seen that many times with their victims. Somehow Sara could remember the faces of each and every one of those people and she hoped that at some point she could forget the look on Nick's face.

She sighed as she looked around to make sure they had everything that they had collected. It was decided earlier on that both Catherine and Sara would handle the evidence and that Grissom would do the interview. Sara followed Catherine's lead as she walked up to Nick's bed. Both women walked over and each gave him a peck on the cheek before walking out.

"We'll be back later Nicky … get some rest." Catherine said with a smile.

"Thanks Catherine … I will."

Nick looked to Sara who was contemplating on what to say she finally cleared her throat.

"I'm really glad you're OK Nick. I feel so guilty. Can you forgive me for leaving you by yourself?" She said with a tear falling from her eye.

She really wasn't an emotional person and when she had her bad times she was usually by herself not with an audience. She knew she had the attention of both Nick and Grissom.

"Look Sara like I said before _I_ put you in a bad position … this is all on me. You have nothing to feel guilty about. I take full responsibility. You know my initials NS? Well did you know that they stand for never-ending stubbornness? It's a weakness that I really need to work on. Now please forget about it for now because I know Grissom will bring it up later." Nick said casting a sideways glance at Grissom.

"You know I will." Grissom said with a smirk.

Sara looked at Nick, "Alright I'll let you have your way for now, but we will talk about this some more. Well we gotta get back to the lab. You better take care of yourself of else we'll have something else to talk about."

"Yes ma'am." Nick answered with a mock salute.

Both women stole one more glance before leaving the room. As they made their way out they ran into Brass who was on his way in to see Nick.

"So did you guys get the shock of your life?" Brass asked.

"Yes … did you know?" Catherine asked.

"No I only just found out myself from the nurse."

"Well Grissom is just about to start the interview … you might want to get in there." Sara suggested.

"On my way. I'll see you ladies later." Brass said stepping through the door to Nick's room.

The two female CSIs made there down to the lobby where they ran into Warrick and Greg. It appeared that the other two members of their team had made some headway. Greg was carrying about bunch of videotapes and they could see that Warrick had a bunch of compiled evidence as well.

"You guys finished fast." Warrick commented.

"Yep we did it out of consideration of the witness." Catherine replied back.

That last statement surprised Warrick. Only an hour or so ago Catherine had called this man a possible suspect. Now she was worried about him. He was also concerned that they may have missed something going through the room that quick.

"Catherine do you think that was wise to go through the room that fast? What if you missed something and I thought you were considering this guy a suspect. Why the change of heart?"

Catherine took his questioning in stride. She knew that Warrick wasn't privy to the information that they had, but she was planning on filling them in.

"Don't worry Warrick. With Grissom, Sara and myself we covered that room. Besides the witness was watching us like a hawk and made sure that we didn't miss anything." Catherine glanced at Sara with that last comment.

"What the hell would the witness know about collecting evidence?" Warrick asked starting to get a little annoyed.

"Plenty … he's a CSI," she responded.

"A CSI …Who?"

"One of ours."

"Is it someone from days?" Greg asked.

"No … Nights." Catherine answered.

"Nights, that doesn't make any sense. We are all accounted for and Nick's on…"

Sara stood there silently waiting for Warrick and Greg to figure it out themselves. She causally looked over to Catherine who was wearing an amused look. Sara really didn't feel that any of this was amusing. Nick's life was in danger, he just had an operation and now Catherine is playing games.

It suddenly came to them.

"The witness is Nick!" Warrick screamed a little louder then he wanted.

"Yep."

"You're kidding right … this has to be some kind of joke." Greg said.

"Sorry guys this is no joke. Nick is the witness. He checked himself into the hospital this morning."

"What's wrong with him other than the obvious?"

"He has appendicitis … _Greg_ this isn't a laughing matter. Nick was almost killed tonight and he just had surgery. None of this is funny. Now we need to get this stuff back to the lab and get it processed. There's a killer still out there and he may come back for Nick."

Sara had said that all in one breath. The others just stared at her like she lost her rocker. She was actually surprised by her outburst.

"I'm sorry guys. I'm just a little stressed out about all this."

"It's alright Sara. No harm done … is he OK?"

"He's still in some pain, but he should recover."

Warrick was very anxious to see his buddy, his best friend, but he knew that they had a responsibility not only to Nick, but also to the city of Las Vegas to catch this killer. There was no telling when or if he would strike again.

"As much as I hate to admit it Sara is right. We need to get this evidence back pronto. We need to catch this guy before he comes after Nick again. We'll stop by later to see how he's doing. In the meantime let's get going."

The four CSIs left the hospital and drove back to the lab. However, as they were talking in the lobby of the hospital none of them noticed a man come up and sit near them listening to their whole conversation. When the CSIs left the man stood and pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

The phone only rang once before it was picked up.

"Yea."

"Mr. Harris, this is Clark. I have a small bit of information for you. I overheard the CSIs talking about the case in the hospital lobby. It seems that our witness is a CSI that works with them. I only got a first name – Nick."

* * *

There you have it. I hope you liked it. As usual please review. See ya next chapter. 


	9. Chapter 9

Hi everyone...thanks for the great reviews. They are appreciated. I also want to thank those of you well wishers for my daughter...she's much better now. Sorry it took a while, but hopefully you'll enjoy the next chappie.

* * *

The four CSIs returned back to the lab with evidence in tow. 

Greg and the video surveillance tapes headed over to Archie in the A/V lab.

Warrick had been able to get a few fingerprints and some shoeprints. Though he had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't get anything from the shoeprints. If he was still a gambling man he might place a bet on the fingerprints.

Catherine and Sara had collected Dustin Schultz's clothes and shoes as well as the pillow the killer had left behind. They had also gotten lucky or rather the killer was stupid and were able to pull a few hairs off of the pillow perhaps it was nothing. However, they were always just able to find something when they thought they had nothing.

They had also reluctantly collected Nick's hospital gown. It was possible that the killer had left a trace of himself on the sick CSI.

The two female CSIs headed towards the morgue to speak with their favorite coroner.

Doctor Albert Robbins was just finishing up the autopsy of Dustin Schultz when Sara and Catherine walked in.

It never mattered what time of day she entered the morgue, Sara always received a chill up her spine. She knew these people couldn't hurt her; in fact most of them had been victims of some sort of violent death. She stopped in her tracks when she realized how close Nick had come to being a lifeless body on the slab in front of them.

Sara knew that this was part of the justice process. In order to catch the assailant or killer it was always a necessity to examine the body whether they were alive or dead. There was a CSI saying: "The body would speak to them." In their case they weren't sure what Dustin's body was going to tell them.

The doctor had been expecting them and was waiting in the examination room. Both women grabbed a blue lab coat and proceeded into the cold room.

"Hey Doc." Catherine started.

"Catherine, Sara." Robbins responded.

"So what do you got for us?" Catherine asked looking down at the body.

She could see a blue tint around his lips. His body was covered with various cuts and bruises. The lights in the room gave off an eerie glow making the bruises more prominent. She could see a discoloration around his right clavicle. She continued to look at the coroner gave his report.

"Our victim died of asphyxia. No surprise there, you can see the blue tint around his mouth. Not too mention the eyewitness account."

"Anything else?"

"Well both the medial malleolus and the lateral malleolus or rather the tibia and fibula were fractured. He may have also been able to fight off his attacker if he didn't have a broken clavicle. That injury is very painful as is any bone that's broken.

"Anything else that might peak our interest?

"I'm sorry but that's all I have for you. Though I can tell you that his injuries were caused from a hit-and-run according to his medical charts."

"Thanks Doc … yea we got a copy of that same chart. We'll be looking into that."

The two CSIs left the examination room and headed back up to find both Greg and Warrick sitting in front of a lab computer running the prints they lifted through AFIS, or the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The CSIs always tried to run with the prints first, you never knew when you were going to get lucky.

So far they only received hits on two hospital employees who were accounted for and didn't match the description that Nick gave them. The last print came back with NO MATCH FOUND.

"OK guys where are we at?" Catherine asked.

"I dropped the videos off with Archie, he's going to go through them to see if he spots anything out of the ordinary." Greg explained.

"I dropped off the hairs you gave me off in DNA … Wendy should hopefully have something for us shortly. Currently we are trying to locate the owners of these fingerprints." Warrick said.

"So did you get any hits in AFIS?" Sara asked.

"Well we got hits from two employees, but both alibis check out and the third print didn't match anyone in the database."

"Hmm … so that could possibly be our killer." Sara stated.

"Possibly."

"OK follow up with Wendy when you get a chance. I'm going to go and find Brass to see what he's found out about our victim. This guy was a victim of a hit-and-run and something tells me that it wasn't an accident … but a warning. The big mystery is what did Dustin Schultz know that got him killed? Let's meet in the break room in a couple of hours to see where we stand. " Catherine said.

* * *

Robert Harris walked into his office at Capral Enterprise and sat down at his desk. He wasn't the least bit worried about the possibility of being identified. In fact this wasn't the first time that he'd been in this position, but unfortunately this was a loose end that he would have to tie up. 

He turned on his computer. His computer wasn't like others. Evers had made sure indiscriminately that he had access to most thing people didn't know existed. Evers was not one to play it safe and neither was he.

He had told Evers that he would take care of the witness and get the disk back. He had sent his men out to get information so far the only information he had received was that the witness's name was Nick and that he was a CSI.

How could he use that to his advantage? He wondered if Dustin had given this CSI the disk. In the long run it really didn't matter he was going to get it back and perhaps he could use this CSI to his advantage.

There was a knock at his office door and when he looked over to the entrance one of his men was standing there with a briefcase in hand. The man was in his mid thirties with blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a suit, but you could tell by his posture that he didn't wear suits often.

Normally Harris would have had a fit if this man showed up in the middle of the day. No one knew what kind of working relationship they had and he didn't want people to start asking the wrong types of questions. He had made an exception since Evers was so adamant about getting the disk back. He waved the man in.

"Close the door." Harris ordered.

The man complied and then walked over and placed his briefcase on Harris's desk.

"So what have you got?"

The man, named Carl, looked at Harris with a smile, "Plenty." He said opening his briefcase and fishing out a file.

"I finally have a full name to your witness," He handed Harris the folder and pulled out a duplicate copy of it. "His name is Nick Stokes. He's a Level 3 CSI at the Las Vegas Crime Lab."

Harris took the file from Carl placed it on his desk and opened it. The first thing he saw was a picture of Nick.

"Well you definitely got the right guy, this is him alright. So what else?"

"I've got the names of the CSIs that are working the case. There are five of them."

He reached back into his briefcase and pulled out some photographs and handed them to Harris. The pictures were of the CSIs at various crime scenes working. Carl started with the first picture.

"This is Dr. Gil Grissom. He specializes in entomology. He's the supervisor of the nightshift. Next we have Catherine Willows. She's a single mother of a daughter and here's an interesting bit of information, she's the daughter of Sam Braun, the casino owner."

Harris scowled at that bit of information that was one less person that he could use to his advantage. He had heard of Sam Braun and had dealings with the man in the past. He was one person that Harris didn't want to get involved with.

"Our next CSI is Warrick Brown. He's married and his wife is a nurse that works over at Desert Palms. From what I've been told by my sources in the lab this man and Nick Stokes are best buds."

The scowl on Harris's face disappeared into a smile, "Really that's a good piece of information that we may be able to work to our advantage. Continue please."

Though Carl didn't show it he was relieved that Harris was finding this information useful. He had been working with Harris for close to nine years so he kind of knew what the man expected. He took a deep breath and continued.

"Sara Sidle, single, basically the job is her life and our last CSI is Greg Sanders. He was just promoted to the field as a CSI. He had been working in the DNA lab for the past couple of years."

Harris was very pleased with the information that Carl had provided. He knew all the players involved. Now he had to figure out how to use them.

"Very good Carl. We have a lot of useful information here."

"I'm not finished yet sir."

Harris couldn't hold back a smile. He always thought that Carl was a very useful person to have around and now he absolutely had no doubt.

"Please continue then."

"I have one more piece of information to share with you."

Carl reached one more time into his briefcase and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Harris. The title at the top of the paper had Evidence List for case file# 1254-789. Harris read over the evidence that had been logged.

"I don't see the disk on this list." He said looking up from the paper.

"No sir and there could be two possibilities why."

"I'm listening."

"The first possibility would be that the disk is still in Schultz's belongings and the CSIs haven't found it yet or the second possibility is that Nick Stokes has it. We have already searched Schultz's car and we didn't find it there. So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that our best bet would be to go after Stokes. I mean he can identify you anyway and needs to be taken care of."

"I agree with you Carl, but we need to make sure that the police don't get that disk. Here's what I'm planning on doing."

Harris explained the plan to Carl and when he left he had the look of anticipation on his face … and a smile.

* * *

Nick had finally been released from the crime scene and allowed to move into a private room. It was the least the hospital could do after his ordeal. His guards were there as well. He was finally starting to feel better. He had a meal and some pain medication. 

As he lay there he could still see the killer's face in his mind and tried to watch some television to get the image out of his head. He casually flipped through the channels and finally found a football game on.

He was startled when he heard a knock at the door. Obviously it was someone that was cleared or the guards wouldn't have let them get that far.

"Come in," he hollered.

Grissom peeked his head into the room, "You up for some company?"

"Sure come on in and take a load off."

The salt and pepper haired man made his way into the room carrying a plastic bag. He pulled an ugly green armchair over to Nick's bed and sat down.

Nick looked at him expectantly waiting for Grissom to give him the bag. Instead Grissom just looked at him.

"So how are you feeling…any better?"

"Yea I'm not in so much pain, the drugs are wonderful… I should hopefully be getting out of here tomorrow from what the doctor tells me." Nick said staring at the bag.

"That's great news. So what's your recovery time going to be?"

"Probably a couple of weeks if I can help it."

"Well don't rush it that lab will be fine without you."

"Yea I know, but will I be fine without the lab? I'm going to go crazy. I don't do well just sitting at home. I find myself thinking about things. I'd rather stay busy."

Grissom knew what the man in front of him was talking about. Nick had been honest and upfront with Grissom about his nightmares after his kidnapping.

It was department policy for Nick to see the department shrink after his brush with death. As Nick's supervisor he received reports on Nick's progress. He also made a point to speak with Nick a few times a week to make sure he was doing OK.

Grissom had finally felt that he was where he should be with his CSI. He knew Nick looked up to him, but that's not what made him a good CSI, what made him a good CSI was his ability to feel for the victim. And once Grissom realized that was who Nick was, then their work relationship changed. Nick began to trust Grissom and vice-versa.

Grissom wasn't so hard on the guy anymore, but it wasn't because of everything he had been through, it was because of what he became.

"I understand Nick, but you need to make sure that you recover both physically and emotionally before you come back to work. You've been through an awful ordeal."

Nick wasn't too happy to hear that, but it wasn't unexpected. He knew that as a victim he would have to go through counseling again. Even though he didn't like to admit it counseling did help him.

"Yea I kind of figured as much. How long do you think I'm going to need to go?"

"That's up to you Nick…how do you feel about all of this?"

Nick stared at Grissom he wasn't sure how to answer. Sure he could lie and say that he was fine, but Grissom knew him better than that. He sat there and thought about how he was going to answer that question. Then he spoke.

"Honestly Grissom…I really can't believe all this is happening. It's very frustrating. I don't know how I get myself mixed up in these things. I mean I have the worse luck. Who goes into the hospital for appendicitis and winds up witnessing a murder? Why is it always me? When am I going to catch a break?"

Grissom took a long hard look at Nick he sat there quietly contemplating his answer.

"I'm sorry Nick I don't have any of those answers. The only thing I can tell you are that things happen to us for a reason and I don't think we are given anything that we can't handle in the long run. You have been through more than any of us can even imagine and you have always come out on top and you will get past this too. I know it can get frustrating. I can only imagine how you feel, but know this … you have all of us to help you. Just remember that. "

"Thanks Grissom. You guys have all been great and have always been there for me."

"Just remember it goes both ways." Grissom said with a smile.

"Hey you need me I'm there anytime day or night as long as I'm not in some stinking hospital gown."

"Yes please Nick do not show up in your gown people might start to talk."

"Ha ha very funny."

"I spoke with Dr. Grossman when I came in, he said that you could get out of bed and go for a walk if you are up to it."

"I would, but we get into the whole gown thing again."

"I knew you were going to say that. That's why I brought these."

Grissom finally gave Nick the bag with a smirk. Nick opened the bag and smiled. He pulled out a pair of jogging pants and a Texas A&M University T-shirt.

"I hope you don't mind, but I went by your house and got those. I figured you'd probably be more comfortable and less drafty."

Nick smiled, "Thanks Grissom. Give me a moment to change then let's get out of here for a while."

Nick was able to get out of bed relatively easy and walked over to the bathroom with his IV in tow. A few minutes later he walked out only with the jogging pants on.

"I'll have to ask the nurse for help with the shirt with the IV and all."

"Shall we."

The two men walked over to the door and opened it. Grissom walked out first and explained to the officers that they were going to go for a walk just down the hall, but not out of their sights. The officers allowed Nick to leave the room as long as he stayed with Grissom.

Nick walked out of the room with a smile on his face. He was finally given some liberty even though he still had a guard. He walked slowly and silently next to Grissom as they continued their walk neither man noticed another person watching them.

* * *

Well there you have it. I hoped you liked it. Please let me know by submitting a review. Thanks! 


	10. Chapter 10

Hi everyone...thanks again for the great reviews. They are really appreciated and a special thanks to my Beta (Tefla).

* * *

Grissom left shortly after visiting hours were over. Whether Nick realized it or not he still was a sick man and needed his rest. Nick fell asleep within minutes after Grissom walked out the door with a good night we'll see you tomorrow. 

Nick woke up when the nurse came into his room.

"Good morning Mr. Stokes."

"Good morning," Nick replied groggily. He reached for his side as he adjusted his position in the hospital bed.

"You'll be happy to know that the doctor is discharging you this morning."

"Yea he told me yesterday…no offense, but I can't wait to get out of here."

"No offense taken Mr. Stokes. I can honestly say that hospital stays aren't among the favorite vacation spots. And what you went through on top of your illness well I can't blame you."

The nurse walked over to Nick, "Before you leave there are a few things I need to do first."

"OK."

"First I'm going to remove this IV, which I'm sure you won't mind."

Nick smiled at that, for the past few days he felt like he was dragging a ball and chain around with him. Not to mention he was starting to get sore from it.

She peeled back the tape holding the IV in place and removed the catheter that had been embedded in his hand. She pressed some gauze and a band-aid down on his hand. She then took his blood pressure and pulse and checked his incision.

"Is someone coming to pick you up?" she asked.

"Well I kind of drove myself here."

"Mr. Stokes as a rule anyone who just had surgery isn't supposed to drive a car for at least two weeks."

"But."

"Don't worry we'll be giving him a ride courtesy of the Las Vegas Police Department," a voice from the door said.

Nick looked over to the door to see Brass, Warrick and Greg standing there. Nick smiles as the three men walked into the room and stopped in front of the bed.

"So rumor has it you're outta here." Warrick said smiling and shaking Nick's hand.

"Yep I'm finally being released from solitary confinement."

"Well you know it's for your own good." Greg replied.

"Don't remind me Greggo."

"Then it's settled no driving Mr. Stokes until the doctor has cleared you. I will be back with your discharge papers and a wheel chair." The nurse looked over to Brass. "One of you may want to get the car and pull it up in front that way I wheel Mr. Stokes straight to the car."

The nurse left the room and Nick got out of bed. He took off his hospital gown and grabbed his Texas A&M t-shirt and put it on. He was already wearing his jogging pants from the night before.

Brass watched as Nick went about the room collecting his belongings. He opened the closet door and retrieved his gym bag and gym shoes. He flipped through the gym bag looking for a pair of sox then he found them. As he was sitting down on the chair besides the bed to put his socks and shoes on. Brass explained what they were going to do with transporting since he was still officially in protective custody.

"OK Nicky this is what's going to go down. Warrick and I will drive you back home in Warrick's car. Now we won't have a police escort I didn't want to cause a scene, but once we are at your house there will be some plain clothes cops watching your place from outside."

"Hey Brass I'm going to go and get the truck. I'll meet you guys downstairs."

"Thanks Rick."

"What about my truck…I drove it here."

"Well I'm sure one of us can drive you back here to get it once you're cleared to drive." Brass responded.

"Greggo I can't believe I'm saying this, but will you drive my truck back home?"

A big smile appeared on Greg's face," Sure Nick."

"And don't you even thing about touching my radio…only the basics."

Brass and Greg glanced at each other and Brass just shrugged.

Greg played along, "What would the basics be Nick?"

"Ignition, steering wheel, gas and break pedals…get the idea, but no radio."

"You mean I can't take her out on a nice hot date with one of my girls."

Nick looked at Greg with disbelief, "First of all Greg you would need a girl and second of all you wouldn't get that far."

"Geez Nick lighten up I'm only playing with you."

Nick smiled, "Had you going didn't I?

"Ha Ha."

He reached back into his gym bag and pulled out a pair of keys. "Here Greg my truck is in the emergency room parking lot. Do you think head down now take my truck and open up my house?"

"Sure no problem." Greg started to walk out the door.

"Hey could you please take my gym bag with you. I don't need anything else from it."

Greg grabbed the gym and headed out the door just as the nurse came back in with a wheel chair.

"Are you ready to go Mr. Stokes?"

Nick looked around one last time before answering, "Yep I think I've got everything."

He walked over and sat down in the wheel chair. He suddenly felt a shiver up his spine. The memories that he had tried to suppress were coming back. The wheel chair had triggered them. He was used to this sort of thing. After his kidnapping last year during his recovery any little thing would remind him of that coffin. It took a long time for him to even get into his shower without being claustrophobic. He knew that he would need time to get over this as well.

Brass watched as Nick momentarily shut down, he figured that he was probably remembering something. Brass unfortunately was all too familiar with that feeling as well. He been up a time or two reliving memories of the past, but he eventually overcame them and had gone on with his life. Nick would do that to though it would take time.

"Nicky you ready to go?" Brass asked.

Nick looked at Brass, "Yea let's get out of here."

Brass walked over to the door and opened it, the two officers that were standing guard turned around to see Nick wheeled out of the room. Brass followed the nurse while one officer coaxed his way in front of the nurse while the other stayed next to Brass.

The officer in the front pressed the down button on the elevator the elevator doors opened and the group moved into the small area that would take them to the lobby.

* * *

The lobby wasn't busy at all just a few people walking in and out. One man sat in the chairs near the elevator. He had been informed that Nick Stokes was being released today and he was going to finish the job and if he had to take a couple of cops out with him. He saw the detective and the two CSIs go up and then a few minutes later both CSIs came back down. He knew it would only be a matter of time before Stokes was brought down. 

He reached into his coat to feel his gun hugging his ribs. He lived by this gun and soon he would be using it. It gave him great pleasure. He loved his job…he loved killing. He always got such a high. Others needed to sniff or to smoke it, but he got his by killing.

He could see the elevator on its way down and got up from his seat and moved over to the elevator as if he were going to get on the next time it opened.

He watched as the little arrow finally hit Floor 1. He reached into his coat and pulled out his gun just as the elevator doors opened.

* * *

Nick was thrilled to finally be going home, but as he was pushed into the elevator he suddenly became a little claustrophobic and started to breath a little heavy. He could feel the beads of perspiration starting to form on his head. 

Jim looked down at him and could tell that Nick was having problems.

"Nicky it's OK we are almost out of here. Just relax and take in some calming breaths."

Nick could feel the occupants of the elevator staring at him. The nurse became concerned for him and came around the front of the wheelchair. She knelt down in front of him and in a soothing voice.

"Mr. Stokes you need to calm down…concentrate on my voice. Please take in some deep breaths and you will start to feel better. We are almost down to the first floor and then you will be outside."

Nick did as she said he took in some deep calming breaths. He cursed at himself for letting this happen. He knew that he was going into the elevator he should have been ready. He guessed with all of the excitement in leaving he didn't think it would be a problem. He still was having a hard time concentrating on the nurse's voice. All he could remember was being in that box again. He knew physically he wasn't there, but mentally he couldn't get away.

Brass silently shook his head and put his hand on the CSIs shoulder. He knew that Nick was going to have to work through this. He at least wanted Nick to know that he wasn't alone and that there were people that were there to help him.

"Nicky you're safe…you are here with me. Nicky look at me." Brass said with force.

Nick gulped then looked at Brass.

"Nicky you're safe…you can see me right? You can feel me right? I'm right next to you. Now listen to the nurse and take some deep calming breathes."

Nick shook his head he knew better than to be on the receiving end of Brass's anger, but in this case he was helping…helping with tough love. Nick began to relax and reached up to feel Brass's hand on his shoulder.

He looked up to Brass and with a shaky voice said, "Thanks…I'm sorry I lost it. I guess with everything that's happened in the last few days I guess some old memories surfaced."

"It's no problem Nicky…just remember we are all here to help you. OK?"

"Yea sure. Thanks again!"

"Anytime Nick." Brass said with a smile and a small wink.

Nick knew that Jim Brass always made himself look hard to the outside world, but when his friends were concerned that heart of stone turned into a heart of compassion and understanding. Brass was there during the most difficult time of his life and here he was still. He was a good friend and he hoped someday that he could do the same for him. Until then he knew he would be safe with this man by his side.

The nurse had just stood up in front of Nick as the doors to the elevator opened to the lobby. None of the occupants had time to exit before a man with a gun came into view.

Brass was the first one to see it and screamed, "Gun!"

* * *

Sorry I couldn't resist...don't kill me, but shower me with reviews. Thanks! 


	11. Chapter 11

Hi everyone...thanks for the great reviews. I'm glad that you are all enjoying the story. I would like to give another thanks to Tefla for doing the whole beta thing. I really appreciate it!

* * *

Brass spotted the gun just as the elevator doors had opened. 

"Gun!" he screamed as he reached for his weapon.

The two officers reached down for their weapons as well, but it was too late. The echo of gunshots could be heard through the hospital lobby. Blood splattered everywhere as both officers were hit and fell to the elevator floor dead.

The nurse never had time to move before she received a single shot to the back. Her eyes held a look of surprise when she felt the bullet penetrate her. She fell forward on top of Nick … dead.

Before he could even clear his weapon Brass fell backwards to the floor of the elevator as he felt a searing pain in his right shoulder. He could hear Warrick's voice coming from the radio on his belt.

"Dispatch I have shots fired at Desert Palms hospital, request backup immediately!"

"Ten-Four … All units in the vicinity of Desert Palms Hospital please respond to shots fired.

Nick had finally relaxed with the help of Brass, but the feeling quickly left when he heard Brass scream, "Gun!"

Nick had looked around the nurse as Dustin Schultz's killer stood in the doorway of the elevator with a gun. It took him by surprise. He didn't think that the killer would come after him in broad daylight.

Everything had happened so fast. Neither officer had cleared their weapon before they were gunned down. Blood splattered all over Nick's face and body as both officers fell to the floor. He tried to move the nurse out of harm's way, but he knew he was to late when he saw the look of surprise in her eyes.

He looked at her with sadness and whispered, "I'm so sorry," before she fell on top of him. He grunted as he caught her and looked up just as the killer smiled and aimed his gun at his head.

Brass looked up in shock as the shooter aimed his gun at Nick. He sat back up and struggled with the pain in his shoulder as he tried to retrieve his weapon from its holster. He just about cleared it when he heard "Las Vegas Police … drop your weapon!"

The shooter had turned away from Nick briefly and looked at Warrick with a smile almost daring him to stop him. The shooter refocused his attention back on Nick and was just about the pull the trigger when Warrick fired.

Brass watched as the gun fell from the shooter's hand. The killer took one last look at Nick before falling to the ground dead with a pool of blood forming beneath him.

He looked out into the lobby, Warrick stood there with his weapon in hand aimed in the direction of the elevator. He lost sight of Warrick when the elevator doors closed. He fell back once he knew they were safe. He looked up to see Nick as he hugged the dead nurse. His concern grew when he saw Nick covered in blood. Had he been hit?

Nick's life flashed before his eyes when the killer aimed his gun at him. He wouldn't close his eyes … if he was going to die he would face death with his eyes wide open. He knew he would be dead in seconds. He jumped when he heard Warrick's voice and then the gunshots.

Nick couldn't mask the surprise he felt when the killer dropped his gun. He had noticed the pit-bull tattoo on his left arm as the gun fell from his hand. He looked back up to see the killer glare at him one more time before he fell to the floor.

He looked out into the lobby as Warrick stood there … his gun aimed towards the elevator. Warrick started to walk over as the elevator doors closed.

Warrick had gone outside to get the truck for Nick. Officially he was still on duty and was told by Brass to make sure he wore his gun. Warrick really wasn't surprised by that request since they were protecting Nick from a killer.

He had just pulled up to the front of the hospital when he heard what sounded like weapons fire. Crowds of people were screaming as they were running out of the entrance of the hospital.

He jumped out of his truck and ran in as he drew his weapon. What he saw nearly made his blood freeze.

Brass was lying on the elevator floor with an apparent gunshot wound to the right shoulder. The two officers that were escorting Nick were both dead, lying on the floor with gunshots to the head and chest. Nick was still sitting in the wheelchair, but the nurse was on top of him. He could see a lone blood stain in her back coming from her left side, near her heart. She too was obviously dead.

The killer had the gun aimed at Nick's head and was about to pull the trigger when Warrick yelled, "Las Vegas Police drop your weapon!"

The shooter turned and looked at him with a smile almost daring him to stop him. The shooter refocused his attention back on Nick and was just about the pull the trigger when Warrick fired upon him. His aim was true. He shot three times and each shot struck the intended target. He watched as the killer dropped his gun and fell to the floor all the while keeping his weapon trained in that direction. This was one time that he was glad that he packed. He had just saved Brass and Nick's life, but was too late to help the others. He looked into the elevator and glanced quickly at Brass then at Nick. He started towards them when the doors closed.

Warrick grabbed his radio from his belt and yelled into it, "Dispatch…I have three officers down. Where the hell is my backup?"

"Backup is two minutes out … is the shooter still in the area?" Warrick heard the dispatcher ask.

Warrick bent down next to the shooter and checked for a pulse he knew he wouldn't find, but was required to check.

"Dispatch shooter is dead at the scene." He replied standing up looking around.

"Ten-Four."

He carefully stepped over the shooter and ran over to the elevator. He pressed the button and heard a "ding" then the doors opened.

When the doors closed Nick drew in a shaky breath. He looked around to assess the scene he first glanced over at the two officers. He could tell that both of them were dead. He turned to look the other way only to see Brass staring back at him with a worried expression.

"Nick are you hit?"

"I-I-it's blood from the officers," he stuttered. "Are you OK?" he asked as he glanced at Brass's wounded shoulder with concern.

Brass looked down at his shoulder then back at Nick, "It's just a scratch."

Just then they heard Warrick's voice coming through the radio.

"Dispatch … I have three officers down. Where the hell is my backup?"

Both men knew backup was on the way. Nick looked back at the elevator doors and then at the nurse who lay sprawled out on top of him. He pushed at her to get her off, but she remained where she was. He was starting to panic. He looked back at the doors and willed them to open.

Brass could see that Nick was starting to lose it. He didn't blame him at all. In fact he was close to losing it himself. He had let Nick down. They were supposed to have protected him and here he was almost killed again. He was just about to offer some words of encouragement to Nick as the elevators door finally opened.

Warrick rushed into the elevator and took one look at the group and rushed back out and screamed, "I need help in here!" Then went back in.

By that time some of the hospital personnel had ventured back into the building. They no longer heard weapons fire and decided to go in to offer any assistance to the injured or wounded.

A few doctors and nurses had heard the call for help and ran up to the elevator. Warrick had been asked to leave while the medical staff checked over the fallen people. He reluctantly agreed he knew that Brass and Nick needed medical attention. As he walked out he gave Nick a light tap on the shoulder. He could feel the man shake under his hand. He looked at Nick with worry as he walked out. This was yet another set back. People had died and Nick was going to blame himself.

The next few minutes were a blur to Nick as medical personnel swarmed the elevator. He watched as a doctor checked for a pulse on the nurse he had been holding. He saw the doctor shake his head at a colleague next to him indicating no pulse. He could feel as they lifted the nurse off of him. He wanted to keep holding her in a way. She had saved his life. If she hadn't been standing there it would be him that would be dead…not her. How would her family react? Probably the same as every family member did when they lost a loved one. Nick drew in a deep breath, but it didn't help kill the anxiety he was feeling. How many people died today because of him?

He stole a glance at the body of the killer that was now covered with a sheet. Inside he was grateful that he was dead and he didn't have to look over his shoulder anymore, but on the outside he wanted justice, this man had killed four people and had gotten off easy.

He jerked when the wheelchair moved forward and out of the elevator. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the lobby on him. Some were out of curiousness and some out of pity or remorse.

Warrick could see the lost look in Nick's eyes as he was wheeled from the elevator. Brass was still on the floor in the small area being examined. He was grateful that both his friends had made it, but he felt badly for the three that had lost their lives. He had worked with the two officers before. Both men were decent and hardworking. He felt for the nurse and her family. She was just an innocent bystander in all this; her death never should have happened.

Warrick walked over to Nick and the nurse as he watched Nick's body language. So far Nick hadn't said much and he didn't have to. Warrick could tell by his body language how Nick was feeling. He was starting to turn in on himself. Only minutes ago Nick was happy to go home sure he was still in danger, but he was himself. Now he felt responsible and guilty.

"Nick man … you have to know that this isn't your fault." Warrick said trying to get Nick to open up.

"Yes it is 'Rick. If it weren't for me … they would still be alive."

"Nick … they knew the risks."

"Not the nurse … she didn't deserve to die. She saved my life. How can I repay something like that?"

The nurse watched the exchange between the two CSIs and felt that she needed to say something.

"Excuse me. I just wanted you to know that Jodie had put her life on the line time and time again. She was a combat nurse in Vietnam. She understood the risks and what was required. If she was going to go, this is the way she would have wanted it. She would have wanted her death to mean something. She saved your life doing what she loved. So please honor her by getting better."

Nick had taken in the words the nurse had said and acknowledged her with a nod.

"Now I'm going to need to take him back to the ER to get checked out."

"But I wasn't hit." Nick replied back.

"Trust me … we understand that, but you just had surgery only yesterday and we just want to make sure that you are alright. Once the doctor looks you over and says that you are fine … then you can leave. OK?"

"I guess I really don't have a choice … do I?"

"I'm afraid not. Your friend in the elevator will be joining you soon."

Both CSIs looked over at the elevator just as Brass was lifted and placed on a gurney. They could tell by the look on Brass's face that he wasn't happy. He never liked the attention … being shot or not.

Warrick looked down at Nick, "Are you going to be OK?"

"It may take some time, but I will get through this and by the way I had two people that saved my life today. I wasn't able to thank the other one, but I want to thank you." Nick put his hand out and shook Warrick's hand.

"Hey man you know I always have your back." He said with a smile.

"Yes I do. Thanks again."

"Are you ready to go?" the nurse asked.

"Yea let's get this over with. I want to be finished by the time the detectives get here and start asking questions."

"Hey Nick … I'll meet you in there. I'm just going to call Grissom and let him know what went down."

"Sure thing … I'll see you in there."

The nurse smiled at Warrick one last time before she pushed Nick towards the ER.

Warrick had reached into his pocket to grab his cell phone and started to dial Grissom's number when he heard, "Warrick what the hell happened?"

He turned around and came face to face with a very angry and worried Grissom.

* * *

Well there you have it...I hoped you liked it. As usual please review and let me know your thoughts..good or bad. Thanks! 


	12. Chapter 12

Hi everyone, well I thought I would have this chapter out tomorrow, but I finished early. I hope you like it.

Oh and thanks for all of the reviews.

* * *

Grissom sat at his desk completing some paper work as the nightshift ended. He casually glanced out his door as he heard three familiar voices coming down the hall. He spied Brass, Warrick and Greg as they walked by. He quickly got up from his desk and ran after them. 

"Warrick … Brass!" he called after them.

The three men stopped and turned when they heard their names being called. Grissom finally walked up them and could see that both Brass and Warrick were armed with both a gun and an assigned radio.

"Are you guys on your way over to get Nick?"

"Yea … I kind of enlisted the help of your CSIs. Not that I could keep them away anyway. Don't worry though I was able to get approval for the overtime," Brass replied with a smile.

Grissom waved his hand, "I don't care about the overtime Jim. How many of you will be covering Nick during the move?"

"There will be four of us … the two officers that are guarding him already, Warrick and myself. Nick doesn't know it yet, but Greg will be driving his truck home."

Grissom smirked at that last comment, "Good luck with that one. I guess I really don't need to tell you to be careful, but I'm going to anyway … be careful! I still have a few hours of paperwork left so if you need anything call me."

"Will do." Brass said.

"Oh one more thing … could you please tell Nick that I will be over later to check up on him?"

"You bet."

With that said the three men turned and headed toward the exit. Grissom stood there and watched them leave. For some strange reason he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Instead of going straight back to his office he went over to radio dispatch and signed out a radio. He wouldn't be there physically, but at least he could monitor them if trouble arose.

He returned back to his office and, with a sigh, continued his paperwork. He occasionally glanced at the radio not giving in to temptation to call for status. About forty minutes went by when heard Warrick's frantic voice come through the radio.

"Dispatch I have shots fired at Desert Palms hospital, request backup immediately!"

Grissom grabbed the radio and ran out of the lab. He knocked a few people over in the process. He would apologize later. Right now he had to get to the hospital … two of his CSIs were in danger … as well as a close friend. He stopped for a moment wondering if he was acting brash. He brushed that feeling aside and started his truck.

The engine roared and he floored it. The hospital was only minutes away. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Warrick's voice through the radio again.

"Dispatch … I have three officers down. Where the hell is my backup?"

"Backup is two minutes out … is the shooter still in the area?"

Grissom froze. There were three officers down. He knew he was taking a chance by assuming that it was Brass and the other two officers that had been hit. What about Nick? He waited for Warrick's response to the dispatcher's question. Was Warrick in danger too? Grissom relaxed only a little when he heard Warrick's response.

"Dispatch … shooter is dead at the scene."

He finally pulled into the hospital parking lot and drew the attention of every cop that stood there when his tires screeched as he stopped his car.

He opened the door to his vehicle and ran towards the hospital flashing his ID to each and every cop he saw. He could feel himself giving way to his emotions. He still wasn't use to the feeling. He walked into the hospital as he took in the scene.

The lobby was hustling with medical personnel running back and forth and there were cops everywhere.

Grissom could hear whispers as he walked by some officers. 'They're dead … such a shame … they were good men.' He turned and looked at the officers briefly then picked up his pace.

He finally stopped when he saw the wheelchair bound Nick being pushed towards the ER by a nurse. From the looks of it, it looked like Nick was hit. He could see blood all over his face and his shirt. He looked past Warrick to the elevator to see Brass being lifted onto a gurney. He could see that he had been shot. He was relieved that his friend has lived, but found a profound sadness for those who had lost their lives.

He finally rushed up to Warrick as he pulled his phone out.

"Warrick what the hell happened?"

He regretted his tone right after he said the words he knew that his emotions had taken over. By the end of this day he was going to be doing a lot of apologizing, but for now he wanted … no needed to know what happened.

Warrick turned around surprise etched in his eyes he took a moment before answered.

Grissom stood there looking at Warrick wanting for an answer. Warrick pulled the phone away from his ear and placed it back in his pocket.

"Grissom I was just about to call you." Warrick replied.

"What happened Warrick?"

Out of habit, and not of nervousness, Warrick ran his fingers through his hair. In doing that, it helped him relax. He wasn't sure why. He looked at Grissom then answered.

"The only thing I can tell you is that I was outside getting the car since they were bringing Nick down. I had just pulled up the truck when I heard gunshots and people came running out. I called for backup and went inside. When I got inside I saw a man standing in front of the elevator with his gun aimed at Nick's head."

Grissom listened intently he wanted to be sure to take in every detail of Warrick's story. He closed his eyes briefly when Warrick mentioned the gun aimed at Nick's head.

"I identified myself and told him to drop his weapon. The shooter actually turned and looked at me with a smile almost daring me to stop him. He refocused his attention back on Nick and was just about the pull the trigger when I shot him."

By the time Warrick was finished telling Grissom the story he only just realized that he had killed a man. With all the excitement he had forgotten he had taken a life. He would do it again if he had to. He had saved his friend's life.

Grissom was satisfied with the details that Warrick had given him. He knew he would have more questions later. He glanced over and saw the ER sign.

"How's Nick? He had blood all over him … was he hit?"

"No … it was blood splatter from the two officers that were killed."

"Is he _OK_?" he looked at Warrick with questioning eyes.

Warrick understood was Grissom was asking him … how was Nick's state-of-mind after this incident … if you could call it that.

"Physically he's fine … other than the surgery. They took him back to the ER to check him out. Mentally on the other hand I think this will be yet another set back. He feels responsible and guilty of course, but I had a conversation with him just before you came in. He says that he will get over all this with time. I guess that's all we can hope for, but he knows that we will be there for him."

Inside Grissom was ecstatic that Nick was physically OK, but he was worried about Nick mentally. He had just gotten over his kidnapping now not only did he witness a murder, but also an attempt was made on his life. He knew Nick was a strong person and he hoped that he could get past this and move on.

Grissom remembered the day when Nick told him that he had gone to see Kelly Gordon in prison. He had also told Grissom what he had said to her … 'To not take it with her'. He hoped that Nick would take his own advice and to not take this with him.

Grissom had looked past Warrick and at the bodies that were covered on the floor. He counted four.

"I count four bodies … I know one is the shooter, the other two are the cops … who's the fourth?"

"The nurse."

"How? She didn't take cover?"

"Those are questions that you are going to need to ask Brass or Nick. When I arrived she was already dead and her body was lying on top of Nick. He said that she had saved his life and that's all he really said on the subject."

Grissom nodded. He scanned the area again.

"Where's Greg … did he leave?"

"Oh man … I totally forgot. He took Nick's truck back to his house. He's waiting there for us right now." Warrick shook his head he couldn't believe that he had forgotten about Greg.

"Warrick it's OK … I think Greg will understand."

Grissom could see that this was all starting to get to the CSI. He was proud of Warrick for everything that he did today. He didn't panic and he did everything right and by the book. He would have to tell that to Warrick when things settled down.

"Warrick why don't you call Greg and let him know what happened. I'm going to call Catherine and Sara."

Warrick nodded and pulled out his phone as Grissom did the same thing.

* * *

Nick allowed himself to be wheeled into the ER just as long as he was away from all the death. He laughed … death … wasn't that his job? To figure out what happened to people when those who committed crimes killed them. Any other day he would be the one they would call to come in and investigate the crime scene. Not today. Once again he was part of a crime scene and once again he escaped relatively unscathed. 

Before he knew it the nurse had wheeled him into a room and had helped him up and onto an examination table.

"Mr. … I'm sorry I didn't catch your name." The nurse said.

"It's Nick Stokes, but please call me Nick."

She smiled, "Sure Nick and my name is Wendy. Would you like to clean up?"

Nick let out a small laugh, "As much as I would like to Wendy …I have to wait."

"Wait … why?" she said confused.

"I can't believe this is happening again," he mumbled to himself.

A look of realization came across her face, "Are you the patient that witnessed the murder upstairs?"

Nick looked at her and nodded.

"I understand … you need to wait until they collect your clothes for evidence don't you?"

He nodded again.

"Well is there anything I can do for you until that happens?"

"Yea, could you turn back time so that none of this happened?" he asked hopefully.

She walked over to him and put her hand on his. "I wish I could. You've been through a heck of a lot in the past day or so. This has got to be very hard on you."

"You have no idea."

"You are probably right. I know I can only offer to listen or to help in some way, but that's all I can do. The healing is up to you."

Nick nodded at her words. "You know I want to thank you again for what you said out in the lobby. It didn't take the pain and guilt completely away, but it helped."

"Well I'm glad I was able to help … if only a little bit."

Nick nodded one more time and looked away. He just glanced out the door just as Brass was wheeled by. He could see that Brass was bleeding pretty badly from the shoulder and hoped that the detective would recover with no problems.

The nurse squeezed his hand one more time and left the room leaving Nick once again alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Well? Did you like it? I hope so. Please review, review and review! Thanks! 


	13. Chapter 13

Hi everyone thanks again for all the wonderful reviews. I really appreciate them. Well here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Silence. Silence was all that Nick heard as he sat in the examination room in the ER. The detectives had just gotten his account of things. It was hard to once again relive those memories, but now that the killer was dead he would have to start to recover mentally. He knew that he would have a few weeks off to recover from his surgery. He had already called the counselor he had seen after his kidnapping and his first appointment was for next week. 

He sighed he couldn't wait for all of this to be over. He couldn't wait to be back to work. He couldn't wait for things to be normal again. _'Would things ever be normal?'_ he thought …_'They had to be or what else was there?'_

Nick was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear Warrick and Grissom enter his room.

Warrick shared a look with Grissom then looked at Nick with concern. He could see dark circles under his eyes and a day old beard that screamed for attention. Though he figured facial hair was the least of Nick's concern.

Both men knew the last two days had taken a toll on the CSI, but they also knew it was over and he could now start the whole recovery process, but first things first.

Warrick had made a little noise at the door to announce their presence. Nick was jumpy enough as it was. They didn't want to give him any more surprises. Unfortunately it didn't work. Nick was too wrapped up in his thoughts and jumped when he heard the noise at the door. It would probably take him awhile before he stopped doing that.

Nick tried to cover up his surprise by plastering on one of his fake smiles, "Oh hey guys … finished already?"

"Yea … IAB already spoke to me as well as the homicide detectives. They took my gun. I'll get it back after the investigation is done."

"What? They can't do that … don't they know you saved my life!"

"Nick its normal procedure ... you know that." Grissom responded. "They spoke to Brass before he went up to surgery and he confirmed Warrick's story. Warrick should be back to work in a few days."

Nick rubbed his eyes with a shaky hand, "Yea … you're right of course. Sorry I didn't mean …"

"Nick … man, forget about it. How about we get you home? You look beat and not to mention you've got to be hurting."

"Yea … yea I'm ready to go. As for the pain, a nurse came in a few minutes ago and gave me some Vicodin. It should hopefully be working in the next half an hour or so."

Nick made a move to get off of the examination table. Both Warrick and Grissom rushed over at the same time to help him off.

"Hold on there Nick I'll be right back," Grissom said.

Grissom walked out the door and went to the right. Nick looked at Warrick, who shrugged with confusion … as if saying who can ever figure out the things that Grissom does. A minute later Grissom walked back him with a wheelchair.

"You're not leaving unless you ride in this." Grissom said with a tone that meant there was no arguing.

Nick shook his head and slowly walked over to the wheelchair and slumped down in it. The ride to the car was stressful. In order to get to Warrick's car they had to go back through the lobby, and through the cops and the reporters. Nick was fit to be tied by the time they got to Warrick's truck.

He was looking forward to going home and being in his own bed. The Vicodin was starting to work and he was feeling drowsy as Warrick and Grissom helped him into the backseat. He snapped his seatbelt and rested his head on the seat and closed his eyes.

The next thing Nick knew Grissom was prodding him awake.

"Nick … we're at your place. You need to wake up so we can get you inside."

Nick looked at him with drowsy eyes he didn't realize he had fallen asleep. He nodded his head in understanding he looked down to unbuckle his seatbelt, but it had already been done. He clumsily swung his legs over to get out and was grabbed by each arm by both Grissom and Warrick.

Both men were afraid to let go because as soon as Nick's legs hit the ground they wobbled a little. Nick was grateful that his friends were there to help him. He knew that if he had tried that on his own he would be kissing the pavement. He wasn't sure what he would have done without them. He glanced up the sidewalk to see Greg standing there moving from one foot to the other. Clearly he was nervous or excited or both.

As they approached the newest CSI he walked up to greet them.

"Hey guys I'm glad to see that you made it one piece. I was really worried when you didn't show up earlier."

Warrick looked down to the ground and shook his head, "I'm really sorry about that Greg. I should have called sooner."

"Warrick it's OK. You sort of had your hands full … it's cool. Now let's get this guy to bed. Uncle Greg has your jammies all ready to go." He said with a smile trying to lighten the mood.

Nick looked at him with a smile, "Well Uncle Greg do I get a goodnight story?"

"We'll see you have to be sure to brush your teeth … well you know the drill." Greg continued as they walked into the house.

Grissom shook his head he knew once Greg and Nick got together the silliness would ensue. He was glad … Nick needed to let off some steam and if Greg could do that then so be it.

Nick had just fallen asleep when there was a knock at the door. Warrick got up to answer it. Both Catherine and Sara were standing there not looking too happy.

Warrick gulped and backed up into the house when the two female CSIs walked in and glared at Grissom.

Catherine was the first to speak up, "What the hell happened?"

Grissom cringed at the tone of her voice, but carefully said, "Nick's asleep so try and keep it down a little. Why don't you two sit down and we will give you all the details? I know I only gave you the basics before and I'm sorry, but unfortunately I didn't have the whole story myself until I spoke to Brass.

He explained the whole story about the shooter and what had happened in the elevator and Warrick filled in the parts about the lobby. By the time they were finished explaining Catherine, Sara and Greg who wasn't told anything sat there stunned.

Sara looked at Warrick. "Warrick you saved his life."

"Yes Sara, he did. Warrick acted very bravely today. Not only did he save Nick's life, but Brass's as well."

"I was just doing my job. I wish I could have done more." Warrick said with regret.

"Warrick you did what you could and two men lived. You did good today."

"Yea thanks man … if it wasn't for you I would have died today." A voice from behind the group said.

Everyone turned around to see Nick standing there hugging the wall. They all stood up, but Catherine and Sara beat the boys to Nick and helped him walk over to the couch and sit down.

"Nick you should be resting." Sara said.

"I know … it's hard. Nightmares," he said looking down.

The team of CSIs exchanged glances. Each of them knew about the nightmares that had plagued Nick after his burial. Yet each of them wondered if these were the same nightmares or different ones.

Grissom was the first to speak, "You want to tell us about them."

After Nick's kidnapping his counselor had encouraged Nick to share his nightmares with his friends. The counselor had pointed out to him that he wasn't the only affected by all this. His friends had suffered emotionally as well. So Nick did it … he shared his nightmares and found it a little easier to deal with them instead of bottling them up.

He nodded and looked at the group they all waited for him to start.

* * *

Harris turned the television on and watched the news. He was pleased that his plan had worked so far, but there were still a few more things left to do. He wasn't surprised when the Las Vegas PD and Crime Lab showed up to question him. It appeared that poor Dustin had been murdered … he did his best to act surprised and offered his assistance to them. They had believed his act. 

Now that the police thought that the killer was dead this would leave Stokes unprotected and free to grab without any foreseeable problems. He just had to wait for the ideal time. He pulled out the folder that Carl had given him on Stokes. He opened it and found that this incident was one of many that made Nick Stokes the man he is today. It seemed that he was a magnet for trouble. This folder was definitely good reading and he found a lot of tasty tidbits about the man that could identify him.

Harris heard a knock at his office door he looked up and their stood Carl once again. Harris waved him in and the young man walked in and sat down in the seat across from Harris.

"Well it looks like everything is going according to plan."

"Yes the police believe I'm dead … won't they be surprised," he said smiling.

"Not as surprised as Stokes when he sees you."

"I can't wait to see his face."

"Me either."

* * *

Everyone but Greg left Nick's house. It had been decided by the group that one of them should remain with Nick. Not for safety, but for help. He shouldn't be by himself since he just had surgery. 

The two men just sat in Nick's living room. It had gotten quiet once everyone left and Nick was getting tired.

"Nick you looked bushed why don't you go to bed." Greg suggested.

"I would if I could get off this couch … I'm way too comfortable." Nick said closing his eyes.

Greg smiled, "Then let me help you."

Greg walked over to Nick and helped him off the couch and into his room. Nick fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He closed Nick's door and walked back into his family room. It was still early and Greg wasn't really tired. He looked around Nick's family room and spied his gym bag. _'Well why don't I clean up a little for him since he's out of it. Nick better appreciate this I don't even clean my own place.'_

He opened the gym bag and took out Nick's old clothes and put them in the hamper in the bathroom. He grabbed Nick's CD player and put it on the table. He looked around again and decided that he cleaned enough. He jumped onto Nick's couch and grabbed the CD player. Greg figured that listening to the CD would be a lot quieter for Nick instead of blasting the TV.

With Nick's taste in music he wanted to see what CD was in their first, before subjecting himself to whatever atrocity was in there. Greg popped open the CD player and was shocked when two CD's fell out. _'Didn't Nick know you were only supposed to have one CD at a time in the CD player or else it didn't work.' _

Greg looked at the CDs … one was some kind of country and the other one wasn't labeled. It was a CD that one would use for a computer drive. _'Why did Nick have this CD in here?'_ Greg wondered. The CSI put the CD on the table and decided he would ask Nick when he woke up.

A few hours later Greg could hear what sounded like a moan coming from Nick's room and a few minutes later Nick emerged walking slowly. Greg got up to help him, but Nick put up a hand that said he could do it himself. Greg shrugged and sat back down.

"How are you feeling?" Greg asked.

"Just sore and tired. Anything on?" he said trying to change the subject.

"Nope … I was just listening to your CD player. I hope you don't mind."

"That's fine. I hope you found something you could listen to."

"Yea I found something to listen to … hey speaking of which don't you know you should only have one CD in here at a time?"

"Of course I know that Greg, what are you talking about?"

Greg leaned over and grabbed the CD he left on the table and handed it to Nick.

"I found this in your CD player."

Nick looked at it, "I've never seen this before."

"Where do you think it came from?" Greg asked.

"I'm not sure … why don't you take it to the lab with you and have Archie take a look at it. Treat this like a piece of evidence Greg. Maybe this was the reason Dustin was killed."

"Sure thing Nick ... do you really think this has something to do with Dustin's murder?"

"I really don't know Greg … I really don't know."

* * *

The plot thickens...Hope you liked the chapter. As usually please review...all thoughts are welcomed. See ya next chapter! 


	14. Chapter 14

Hi everyone...thanks once again for all the great reviews. They are really appreciated and I'm really glad that you are all enjoying the story.

Well here it is Chapter 14...ENJOY!

* * *

Nick woke up feeling good. He no longer had the physical pain that had been plaguing him for the past few weeks. He had been off of work for four weeks and tonight was his first night back. He felt great; in fact he started working out again which made him feel even better. Though it would take a while to get to where he was. 

Nick was relieved when both his physician and the counselor finally cleared him for duty. He was happy to finally be going back to work instead of sitting at home thinking about things. After speaking with his counselor things were clearer and he finally came to realize that none of this was his fault. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Grissom and the gang had taken turns coming over and helping him. During that time Sara and Nick were able to get things worked out between them. Both of them felt guilty so they called it a draw and both apologized. As far as they were concerned the matter was closed.

Greg and Warrick were by just about everyday after shift. They would keep him busy with movies and video games in which Nick beat them both to a pulp. Catherine, Sara and Grissom would relieve Warrick and Greg. He never realized how lucky he was to have such great friends.

He ran around his house getting ready. He was surprised with himself, he had four weeks to get ready and now he couldn't find anything.

"Wallet … where the heck is my wallet," Nick said out loud.

He finally spied it on the counter in the kitchen. Then it came to him he put it there after they had pizza delivered the night before. He grabbed his wallet and with one final look around turned his lights off and moved out to the front door. He stopped one more time, '_Let's see wallet, cell phone and keys … yep I think I'm set.'_

He turned around and locked his door, took a deep breath and headed out to his truck. He couldn't help but smile. It was a long four weeks of doing nothing but thinking. Thinking about what he could have done differently. Thinking about those people who had given their lives for him. He had made it a point to go to each of their funerals. He wanted their families to know that their deaths weren't for nothing. In a way that gave him closure. It also helped that he was no longer in danger from the killer.

Nick hopped in his truck and turned the ignition and pulled out of his driveway. The drive to the lab was a short one. He pulled into the familiar parking lot of the Las Vegas Crime Lab and got out. He turned when he heard another door slam only to see Warrick getting out of his car.

"Hey man," Warrick put his hand out.

"'Rick … what's going on?" Nick shook Warrick's hand with a smile.

"You ready to get back to the grind?"

"Are you kidding I was ready three weeks ago. I really was only supposed to have nine days off."

"Well I'm sure by the end of the shift you are going to wish you had three more weeks off."

"I don't think so … to tell you the truth I would be very surprised if Grissom even put me out in the field tonight."

"Why's that?"

"Well … Since I've been gone for four weeks. I'm not really expecting it. He probably just wants to make sure that I'm fine and trust me I won't hold that against him."

The two CSIs walked into the building together. Nick was finally home. He never realized how much he missed the lab when he was off. He missed the mysteries and figuring out things. He missed the science. Most of all he missed the people. As he walked in with Warrick he smiled at Judy who sat behind the reception desk. She smiled and greeted him when he walked by.

"It's nice to see you Nick … welcome back."

"Hi Judy it's nice to see you too." He flashed her a genuine smile.

Nick and Warrick walked into the locker room as if it were any other day. _'Yes.'_ Nick thought. _'So far his night was going well'_ and he hoped that it would stay that way. Nick stopped in front of his locker. He was glad to be back. He opened it and smiled. His gun was exactly where he had left it. He grabbed it and put it on even though he didn't think he'd be going out in the field and also put on his CSI vest.

The two CSIs walked out of the locker room together and headed towards the break room where the group always meets before shift. The aroma of coffee sailed through the air. Greg had made another pot of his coffee. _'Yes, so far this day is going just fine.' _

When Warrick and Nick walked into the break room Catherine, Sara, Greg and Grissom were already in there. Nick couldn't believe it Grissom actually beat him in. Normally Grissom was bustling around the lab this time at night and the group barely saw him, but not tonight.

The group looked up as the two CSIs walked in. Greg was the first one to get up.

"Welcome back Nick. I made a pot of coffee for you." He said with a smile.

"Thanks Greggo. I really appreciate it."

Catherine and Sara walked up to him and both gave him a welcome hug.

"Welcome back Nick." Catherine said,

"Yea welcome back." Sara said with a smile.

Nick withdrew from the hug with a smile and looked at Grissom who was now standing waiting for his turn to welcome Nick back.

He extended his hand, "Welcome back Nick … the lab sure missed you … well we all missed you."

Nick took and shook Grissom's hand, "It's good to be back Grissom."

"Glad to hear you say that. OK everyone why don't we take a seat and get started."

Nick and Warrick both poured themselves a cup of coffee while Grissom gave out assignments.

"OK guys and gals we have a shooting down at the convenience store on Randolf and Las Vegas Boulevard. I need everyone … including you Nick." Grissom said to the Texan just sitting down with his coffee.

"Just tell me where you need me."

"From what I've been told it was a robbery gone bad. There are several victims on site. Let's get going."

'_So much for the coffee.'_ Nick thought as he put his cup down and headed out the door. _'Who really needs coffee anyway?'_

"Man I really could of used some of that coffee." Warrick said.

Nick laughed and Warrick glanced at him like he was mad.

"You want to let me in on the joke."

"Nah … not really," Nick said grinning. He knew that this was going to bug Warrick for the rest of the day. "I'm driving," he called.

The team had collected their evidence kits and drove out to the site. The CSIs parked their cars in the parking lot and each crossed the yellow police line do not cross tape.

Detective Sam Vega was standing there waiting for them.

"Hey Sam … what do you got for us?" Grissom asked trying to get a look into the store.

"Guys … it's a messy one in there. We have four dead. The cashier and three customers."

"Was this a robbery?" Grissom asked.

"At first we thought so, but the cash register was still closed and all of the money was still in there. To tell you the truth we aren't sure. That's why we called you in."

The CSIs all looked at each other. From Sam Vega body language they could tell that this was going to be a long evening.

"Follow me … I'll show you the first victim."

The CSIs followed Vega into the store unaware that they were being watched from across the street.

* * *

Harris sat in his SUV he was still on his high from gunning all those people down. This crime scene was staged. They killed these people for no reason … wait one reason to get Stokes here. They knew the more people that were killed the more CSIs responded. The tricky part was getting Stokes by himself. 

The men in the SUV sat and waited for Harris' instructions. Carl sat just behind Harris he knew the plan. In fact he had helped Harris perfect it. So far everything was going according to how they planned it. They kept a silent vigil as the CSIs worked the scene.

Harris had a pair of binoculars in which he pointed at the windows of the store. He saw the CSIs huddled together as if forming a game plan like a group of professional football players would. He laughed if only they knew what he had planned tonight.

He watched as Nick headed to the back of the store away from the group. Harris quickly lost sight of Nick in which he wasn't too happy, but he wasn't worried he had another car watching from the other side. So they could track Stokes from either side.

* * *

David Phillips, the assistant coroner, was just walking out as the group walked in. 

"I checked all the bodies – they all appeared to have perished from gunshot wounds." He said to the CSIs.

"Thanks David. We'll let you know when we are done."

"Sure thing." The coroner continued out the door.

The group of CSIs followed Vega into the convenient store. The smell of copper and gunpowder lingered in the air. The first victim was the store clerk.

The girl looked at least eighteen – way to young to die. Her legs were sticking out partly from behind the counter. As if she was running to get out and the gunshot slammed her back. She had a single gunshot wound to the heart.

The next victim was near the ATM machine. A man in his near forties lie face forward on the ground with a large pool of blood underneath him. There was no exit wound in his back.

The next two victims were in an aisle on the floor. These two had gotten it the worst. It was an older couple and both were laced with bullets holes. The woman was beneath the man as if he was trying to protect her.

Grissom looked around the store then back up near the door when he spotted a security camera. He looked around some more and found three others.

This was all the Grissom needed to see. He turned around and headed back up towards the front of the store. He waved his people over to him.

"OK we are going to divide and conquer. Sara I want you to take the man over by the ATM. Warrick I want you to handle the cashier. Greg you are on perimeter. Catherine and I are going to work the older couple." Grissom looked at Nick then said, "Nick we have security cameras … I want you to take those tapes back to the lab and analyze them. Find out if we got lucky."

"Sure thing Griss. I'm on it." With that said Nick headed back to the rear of the store and disappeared behind a door marked employees only.

Minutes later he emerged with a bag of videotapes. He walked past Warrick as was leaving.

"I'll be sure to save you some coffee," he said.

"Now that's so wrong …" Warrick said back.

Nick walked over to Grissom and Catherine who were both looking over the victims.

"I'll give you guys a call as soon as I find out anything."

"Thanks Nick." Grissom responded.

With that said Nick took one more look around and headed out the door.

* * *

Harris sat up straight in the driver seat. He could see the goose bumps form on his arms. He could feel his pulse race. He had just watched as Stokes emerged from the convenience store. He spoke shortly to a spiky haired guy then hopped into his truck and took off. 

Harris turned the ignition and slowly pulled out to follow the unsuspecting CSI. He couldn't wait to see Stokes face when he found out that he wasn't dead. The look would be priceless.

* * *

Nick walked out of the convenience store and walked over to Greg who just started to work the perimeter. 

"Hey Greg … I'm heading back to the lab. I'll see you later."

"OK man … I'll see you back over there."

Nick hopped into his truck and pulled out of the parking lot. He drove along Randolf Road he had made a few green lights, but didn't quite get lucky with the last one. He stopped his car and waited for the light to turn green. He tapped his hands on the steering wheel with the beat of the song he listened to.

The light just had turned green. Nick was just about to accelerate when he heard screeching and suddenly he felt his car lurch forward from impact. He sighed, put his car in park and turned off the ignition. He got out of the car grabbing his cell phone. He needed to call Grissom to let him know that he was in a little fender bender.

As he was nearing the rear of the vehicle the man in the other truck had gotten out. The man was still in the dark and Nick couldn't see his face. He spoke to the man while dialing the phone.

"Are you injured?"

Harris replied back, "No. I'm not...are you?"

"No I'm good."

Nick said bending down looking at his bumper unaware that Harris and his men now had him surrounded.

"Good...now if you will please give me your phone Mr. Stokes."

Nick's heart stopped and he looked up to see Harris and his men surrounding him with their weapons drawn. This took him by surprise since he never heard any of the other men exit the other vehicle.

He stood to his full height pulling the phone slowly away from his ear and hanging it up. He was unsure if the call went through or not. He looked at the men that surrounded him...they all looked liked trained soldiers all dressed in black like they were on a mission or something.

He slowly moved back trying to get space between them and him, but failed when he bumped into the back of his truck. He had nowhere to go ... he was trapped.

Nick looked around for someway to escape, but there were no cars or people. That was the problem working the nightshift ... no one was around - it was dead.

"You don't know who I am ... do you Mr. Stokes?" Nick heard the man ask that stood in front of him.

Nick remained silent.

Harris walked into the light and Nick finally was able to get a good look at the man in front of him. Nick observed the man ... he seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't place him. _'It was still a little dark,'_ he thought to himself.

"I want you to slowly remove your weapon from your holster using two fingers and only two fingers and hand it to me."

Nick did as he was told and slowly removed his weapon with two fingers. He handed it to Harris still eyeing the men around him. He was now giving up his only means of protection...not that it would do him any good at the moment.

Harris lifted his right arm to grab Nick's gun. He wanted Stokes to see the tattoo.

As Nick handed over his gun he noticed the tattoo on the other man's arm _'...A pit bull tattoo, but how could that be? He was dead! I saw him die!'_

Nick looked up in fear. He looked into Harris's eyes and could see a smirk settling on his face.

"Now Mr. Stokes do you know who I am?"

* * *

Well there you have it. I hoped you liked it. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks and see you next chapter! 


	15. Chapter 15

Hello again everyone...I would like say thanks again to all of those who reviewed. The comments are appreciated. I would also like to say a special thanks to Tefla for doing the Beta thing. (Hope you enjoy your part - hee hee)

Enjoy!

* * *

Harris watched as Nick pulled out of the convenience store parking lot. He pulled his car in behind him, but a few car spaces behind. He had notified the group watching the rear of the building of their heading and position. 

He looked into his rearview mirror when the second truck holding the rest of his men pulled in behind him. There were eight of them in total. He knew it was probably overkill, but he didn't want to take any chances. Stokes had gotten lucky once … what Stokes didn't know was that his luck was about to change.

They followed the Denali up Randolf Road. Harris had just seen the light change to red. He reached for the radio.

"OK this is it."

Harris slowly pulled up to the CSI's truck, but when the light suddenly turned green he gunned the engine and slammed into the Denali. He had taken drastic measures to make sure he didn't get away. The plan was to grab him at the light, but they had to improvise … so Harris crashed into him.

Though he wasn't hurt in the slightest he sat there and watched as his prey emerged from his truck. When Stokes was finally near the rear of his vehicle he decided to exit.

Harris got out of his car just as Nick neared the rear of the vehicle. He regarded the CSI in front of him. He was in good physical shape not the weak man he saw in the hospital. This man looked like he could handle himself. _'Let's see how he can handle himself against eight.'_ Harris thought.

"Are you injured?" he heard Stokes ask.

Harris replied back, "No. I'm not … are you?"

"No I'm good."

He watched as Nick bent down and looked at his bumper. He was oblivious to the danger he was in. Harris, being closer to his car, could hear his men exit and quietly surround Stokes. Now was the time.

"Good … now if you will please give me your phone Mr. Stokes."

He observed the CSI as he heard the request. He could tell by his body language that the request had been a surprise.

He watched as the CSI slowly stood up from his position, looked around and hung up his phone. It was hard not to smile at the sight.

The man was trapped and he knew it.

"You don't know who I am … do you Stokes?"

He remained silent.

Harris decided that it was time to move into what light there was, which consisted of a street light twenty feet away. He really didn't expect Stokes to know who he was just by looking at him. He only had a brief glimpse of him.

He was right as soon as he walked into the light Stokes observed him with tiniest hint of recognition.

"I want you to slowly remove your weapon from your holster using two fingers and only two fingers and hand it to me."

The outnumbered CSI used his head and did what he was told. He slowly removed his gun from his holster and handed it over to him.

This was it the moment he was waiting for. Harris lifted his right arm … the arm with his tattoo and slowly reached for the gun. He made sure that Stokes got a good look at his arm.

The tattoo had the effect he knew it would have. He smirked at the CSI's reaction.

"Now Mr. Stokes do you know who I am?"

Nick looked up at the man who he thought was dead. He tried to mask the shock and fear, but his body was already betraying him. He could feel his heart racing and he was numb all over. _'This wasn't really happening…was it?'_

He swallowed, but his throat was dry. He took a chance and answered hoping his voice wouldn't betray him as well.

"Yes I know who you are."

"Good … I have been waiting for this little reunion for some time now. I have to say that you look a lot better than you did the last time I saw you … take him." He said to his men.

Nick punched the man nearest to him and tried to make a break for it. Before he knew what happened, he was on the ground with two men on top of him. It still didn't stop him from throwing a few more punches. In the struggle Nick dropped the cell phone that he had never handed over. The cell phone bounced a few feet away and towards the empty sidewalk.

"I see they make them tough in Texas …"

Nick's struggling stopped when he heard a click of a gun near his right temple. He looked over to see Harris standing there with _his_ _own gun_ aimed at his head.

He was roughly pulled back up from the ground and slowly dragged over to the waiting truck. The whole time looking, searching for anyone or anything that could help him. There was no one. If he had been on the strip this never would have happened, it would have been way to busy. Though in his case he was in a small business district that had no traffic this late at night.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Well I thought that was obvious from our last visit Mr. Stokes."

"You want me dead … so what are you waiting for!"

"Are you really that much in a hurry to die? Well let me put your mind at ease. I will kill you eventually, but not at this moment. I'm not quite finished with you yet."

Nick wasn't able to get another word out before he was forced into the back seat. Two men got in after him … one on each side.

Harris got into the driver's seat and turned back to look at Nick, "I'm really sorry about your truck, but I would imagine that's the least of your worries right now." He snickered.

He turned back toward the front started the car, backed up and pulled away from Nick's truck that was still in the middle of the street.

Nick watched as they got farther and farther from his truck he only hoped that it wouldn't take Grissom long to figure out what happened.

* * *

Erin Matthews had just finished closing up her shop and headed towards the front door of her store when she heard a crash from outside. When she reached the doors she stopped to see what was going on before leaving the safety of her store. There had been a rash of burglaries a few months ago and she still felt on edge. 

She peeked out her front window and noticed that a truck had crashed into the back of another at the stoplight. The man in the first truck got out and headed to the rear with a cell phone in hand. He was armed and had a black vest on that said Crime Scene Investigations. _'He must be some sort of cop'_ she said to herself. She watched as he bent down to look at his bumper unaware that several men had exited the other vehicle with guns in there hands. They quickly had the unsuspecting man surrounded.

She hid behind the window display, but was still able to see everything that was transpiring. She was afraid for the man in the black vest as he was forced to give up his weapon. When she saw him punch the man next to him to try to get away, Erin had gasped quietly. As she remained in a crouched position, she silently cheered the stranger on, but it was short-lived when two men tackled him to the ground.

The last thing she saw was the armed men force the man into the backseat of the truck. She was able to get a glimpse of the name on the vest. 'Stok' was all she got before the truck took off. She was also able to get the license plate as well.

Erin exited her store and walked over to the street where the truck had been left. She scanned the nearby area and found the man's cell phone. She picked it up like she found gold. She went through the menu and located the last call he made … it said Grissom. She pressed the 'send' key.

"If this doesn't work, then I'm calling the police."

* * *

"Catherine look …" Grissom pointed to a shell that was just under the older male victim. 

"Thanks."

Grissom continued to scan the floor with his eyes when his cell phone rang. He pulled it from his belt and looked at the call display.

"It's Nick … isn't it a little early to have something?" he asked Catherine.

She shrugged her shoulders and bent back over the victim.

Grissom flipped his phone up, "Nick isn't it a bit early to be calling you haven't even been gone fifteen minutes."

Erin jumped when she heard the voice answer on the other side. She responded in a soft tone. "Um … this isn't Nick."

"Then who is this?" Grissom asked standing up. "Where's Nick?"

This got Catherine's attention. She watched as Grissom paced back and forth.

"My name is Erin Matthews. I own a video store off of Randolf Road. I just witnessed a kidnapping … I think."

"Erin … my name is Gil Grissom I work at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Can you please tell me where the gentleman that owns this phone is?"

"He was forced into a truck by some armed men."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I watched the whole thing. The man … he was wearing a black vest with Crime Scene Investigator on it. I was only able to get part of his name S-t-o-k…"

"Stokes … his name is Nick Stokes. OK tell me where you are again?"

"I'm at 4225 Randolf Road. I'm standing right next to your guy's truck."

"Erin … stay there. We'll be there in five minutes."

"I won't leave … I promise."

Grissom hung up the phone and was immediately assaulted by Catherine with questions.

"Gil, what's going on?"

"I just received a call from a woman named Erin Matthews … she was calling from Nick's cell." Grissom said as he walked towards the front of the store.

Catherine was matching him step for step, "Yeah go on."

"She said that she witnessed him being kidnapped."

"What! Is she sure?"

Catherine's outburst got the attention of both Sara and Warrick, who walked over.

"Is everything OK over here?" Warrick asked.

Grissom looked at Catherine and answered, "She's standing right next to his truck. Look I got to get over there … you guy's finish up here. I will call you as soon as I know something."

He didn't wait for anyone to answer and left the building. Catherine just stood there and watched as he got farther and farther away.

She turned to Warrick and Sara, "Grissom just received a call from Nick's cell phone."

"Yea … is my boy slacking off already?" Warrick asked with a smile.

"No … Grissom received a call from a woman named Erin who was calling from Nick's phone."

"Did Nick lose his phone?" Sara asked hoping that that was the case.

"I'm afraid not … she told Grissom that she witnessed the man that owned the phone being kidnapped."

"Oh my god … not again."

"We don't know what's going on … that's why Grissom is going over there. Now let's get back to work, the sooner we finish up here the sooner we can help Grissom."

Grissom left the convenience store in a hurry and made his way over to Detective Sam Vega, who was talking with a bunch of officers.

"Sam I need to talk to you."

"Sure. What's up Grissom?"

"I'm not sure to tell you the truth. I just received a call from Nick's cell phone only it wasn't Nick. It was some woman named Erin. She said she witnessed him getting kidnapped. Now this could be nothing or it could be something, but with Nick's history … I would rather be safe than sorry."

"You want me to go over there and check it out?"

"Yes and I want to go with you."

Vega turned towards the officers, "Make sure you guys hang around here and watch their backs."

The officers nodded their heads in understanding. None of them wanted a repeat of last year. Though in Grissom's mind, it occurred that it may have already happened.

The two men got into the Detective's car and drove off. Within minutes they pulled behind a familiar Denali that was parked in the middle of the road … obviously abandoned. Grissom jumped out of the car and walked over to the Denali. He could now see the damage to the rear of the vehicle.

"That's the way they left it ..." He heard a voice coming from his left.

He turned quickly to see Erin Matthews standing there with Nick's cell phone in her hand.

"Erin?" he asked. "I'm Gil Grissom I spoke to you on the phone. This is Detective Sam Vega."

Erin shook both of their hands before she gave Grissom Nick's phone.

"Um Erin … how did you know to call me?" Grissom asked.

"After the crash … your guy …"

"Nick."

"Nick had his phone and had dialed a number, but before the call went through he was ordered to hang up. I just dialed the last number he did. If that didn't work I would have called 911."

"You did great Erin … Now can you tell us everything that you saw." Vega asked.

Erin went on to explain everything she saw: from Nick hanging up his phone, to getting tackled, and finally being dragged and forced into the other man's truck.

"I'm really sorry I couldn't do more. I should have helped him instead of hiding in my store."

"Erin you did just fine … if you had gone out there you probably would have been killed. At least this way Nick's only been gone less than a half an hour. That helps … it helps a lot. If you will excuse me for one minute I need to make a phone call."

Grissom left both Erin and Vega and walked about ten feet away when he dialed Catherine's number.

"Catherine it's Grissom … it's been confirmed Nick's been kidnapped again."

* * *

Well there you have it Chapter 15. I hope you all liked it. As usual please review! Thanks and see you next chapter. 


	16. Chapter 16

Hi everyone...thanks for all of the reviews. I really appreciate them. I really liked writing this chapter.

All I can say is let the Nicky whumping begin...

Enjoy!

* * *

Catherine had just finished up with the two elderly victims when she heard the bell from the front door of the convenience store jingle as it opened. 

The spiky-haired CSI walked in with his kit and a confused look on his face.

"Hey Catherine … what's going on? Why did Grissom race out of here with Vega?"

Sara and Warrick walked over to join Catherine. Catherine knew it was her responsibility to share what little news they had. This wasn't what she signed up for. She signed up to catch the bad guys, not to be the bearer of bad news. The only bad news that she wanted to give was to the criminals.

She knew there were risks in this profession, but she didn't think that one of her people would be kidnapped twice in a year. Not to mention being a witness in a murder case.

She stopped herself … it wasn't confirmed that Nick was kidnapped yet. She was getting ahead of herself. She looked at Greg who stood in front of her waiting for an answer. Warrick and Sara looked at Catherine … waiting as well. They all knew of the possibility, but none of them had spoken to Greg about it.

"Grissom is headed over to a possible crime scene."

"He is … he sure seemed in a big rush."

"I'm not finished yet Greg."

Greg looked at her with uncertainty. He knew she was about to drop a bomb on him. He braced himself for the news.

"What happened and to whom?" He knew with the way the three of them were acting that it was someone they knew.

"It's Nick … he may have been kidnapped again." Catherine blurted out.

"How can that be? I just saw him a few minutes ago."

Catherine shook her head, "All I can tell you is that Grissom received a call from Nick's cell a few minutes ago. Only it wasn't Nick calling."

Greg looked over at Sara and Warrick and then at Catherine, "Who was it then?"

"It was a woman who said she witnessed a man being kidnapped. The man had dropped his phone during the struggle."

"Is she credible?"

"We don't know … that's why Grissom and Vega headed over there."

Greg looked dumbfounded he couldn't believe this was happening. _'Honestly how much more could Nick take?' _He glanced over at Sara and Warrick … who remained silent.

The silence was interrupted when Catherine's phone rang. She quickly grabbed her phone and nearly dropped it in the rush. She looked at the call display and saw it was Grissom.

"It's Grissom," she said to the group as she answered her phone, "Willows."

"Catherine it's Grissom … it's been confirmed Nick's been kidnapped again."

"Do you know what went down?" she asked.

"From the witness account and what I've assessed so far Nick was hit from behind while at a stoplight. When he got out of his truck to look at the damage he was grabbed and dragged into the truck that hit him. During that struggle he dropped his cell phone, the witness picked it up and called me."

"Any signs on where they could have taken him?"

"None that are obvious. Hey listen, I'm going to need one of you to bring over my kit. In the rush to get over here I forgot it."

"Yea we noticed … don't worry I'll have Sara bring it over."

"OK thanks I'll be waiting."

Grissom hung up the phone and turned around to look at Nick's truck once more before walking back over to Vega and Erin.

"Where you able to get a license plate?" Grissom heard Vega ask.

"Actually yes. K-L-G-4-4-5-6."

"Can you identify the make of the car?"

"I'm sorry, but it was to dark to see that. I know it was an SUV and a dark one at that."

"That's OK. The license plate number really helps."

Erin was pleased that she was able to help, "I hope you guys will be able to find him. I feel really bad about all this."

"Erin don't feel bad. None of this was your fault. You did everything right." Grissom said from behind them.

"That still doesn't make me feel better. Who knows what they could be doing to him," she said.

Vega and Grissom shared a look they hoped that Nick wasn't being subjected to the same thing that happened before. Time was of the essence. Grissom wanted to kick himself … he was losing time because he forgot his kit back at the store. _'Was he losing his mind?'_ He didn't think so. It was just his response to a friend in need. Usually he was the calm and refined one, but these days he seemed to be more chaotic. He had to make sure the next time to not go off half-cocked. He had to keep his wits about him.

"Trust us Erin … we know all to well."

* * *

Nick sat in the backseat surrounded by armed men he wondered what they wanted him for. He had already asked once and they didn't answer him. He guessed that he would find out sooner or later. He looked out the window watching the scenery go by, but soon came to realize the scenery was way to familiar. He leaned forward in his seat to get a better view only to be pulled back. 

Harris watched Nick's reaction as they pulled into his neighborhood, "I see you recognize where we are."

Nick remained silent and felt a lump in his throat when Harris pulled into his driveway. _'These guys knew where he lived. Had they been watching him this whole time and he didn't know it?'_ All those familiar feelings he packed away all came flooding back, _'This was like Nigel Crane all over again.'_ He watched as Harris put the car in park and turned around.

"Your keys Mr. Stokes." He said holding his hand out.

Nick just glared at the man he wasn't going to cooperate until he heard a familiar click of a gun near his left ear. He turned to see a Glock pointed in his face. He looked back at Harris.

"Your keys now Mr. Stokes … or I will take them by force."

He knew when he was beat. He was surrounded and weaponless … for now. Once he got inside he knew that would be a different story. His spare gun was still in the same place he hoped that he would be given he chance to grab it.

He slowly reached into his pocket, grabbed his keys and handed them over.

"Thank you Mr. Stokes … bring him."

The two men on each side of him exited the vehicle. Nick was pulled out by one and escorted up his sidewalk to his front door. Harris was already at the door unlocking it.

Nick remembered only hours ago being in this same spot, actually excited about going to work. If only he knew how his night was going to turn out. He heard the door creak open and felt a hand grab his arm. He was roughly pushed into his house and forced to sit down in his favorite armchair. Two armed men flanked him on both sides.

"Search the place," Harris said as he stood in front of Nick. He bent over and placed one hand on each arm of Nick's chair.

"Now whether I kill you slowly or quickly is up to you Mr. Stokes."

Nick listened intently.

"Where is it?"

"Where is what? I don't know what are talking about." Nick answered.

"Wrong answer!" Harris shouted and grabbed Nick by the hair.

"I don't know what you are talking about … I-I-I swear." Nick answered quickly while he attempted to wrestle out of Harris' grasp, but the two armed men held him back.

"You're lying … so far you aren't earning yourself any points Mr. Stokes."

Nick blanched at that remark. He tried to turn his head towards the front door just as it opened and more men walked in.

Harris slapped Nick with an open hand, "Me … pay attention to me!"

If looks could kill, Harris would be dead three times over. Nick could feel his cheeks getting red, not out of embarrassment, but out of anger.

"Now I asked you a question and if you don't answer it I'm going to shoot you in the leg," Harris let go of Nick's hair and pulled out his gun along with a silencer.

Nick watched as Harris screwed the silencer onto his gun. He could feel the sweat trickle down his forehead and slowly lifted his arm to wipe it. If only he could get to his gun.

Harris looked down at Nick again. This time he aimed his gun directly at Nick's left leg, "Now I ask again where is it?"

All Nick could do was stare at the gun aimed at his leg. He couldn't quite get up the courage to answer. Harris didn't take to kindly to the silence and slammed his pistol across Nick's jaw. He reached up and felt his jaw after the blow.

"Your time is running out Mr. Stokes."

"I-I-I swear I don't know what you are talking … AHH!" Nick barely got the words out before he felt a hot, searing, pain rip through his left leg. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!" he screamed again as he clutched his injured leg.

"_Where is the disk?"_

Nick stared at Harris in shock. They were looking for the disk that Greg had found a few weeks back.

"I can tell by the look in your eyes that you know where it is … tell me!" Harris screamed as he grabbed Nick's hair again.

He grunted as Harris pulled him forward by the hair, "I don't have it anymore … I swear."

"Where is it?"

"It's at the lab."

Harris wasn't happy with Nick's answer and threw him to the floor. He proceeded to kick Nick a few times in his bad leg. He bent down and grabbed Nick by his vest and threw him back into the chair.

Nick didn't know pain like that existed. Every time Harris had kicked him he saw a flash of white. He wasn't sure how much more he could stand. The kicking stopped and he could feel himself being roughly pulled back up and thrown back into the chair.

"Well I guess then we are just going to have to get it back and _you_ are going to help us." Harris demanded.

"How?"

"Ever hear of the word 'bait' Mr. Stokes."

Nick knew he was already a dead man so why should he help them. This guy told him that he was going to kill him when this was all over. He had absolutely no incentive to help.

"Why should I help you when you are just going to kill me anyway?" Nick asked.

"Don't worry there really isn't much you are going to have to do, we'll handle most of it. All I need is a phone number for your supervisor."

Nick remained silent.

"That wasn't a request. Give me the number or you will have a matching hole in your right leg." Harris pulled out his gun and aimed it at Nick's other leg for effect.

He knew he was in serious trouble. He was already shot in one leg and losing blood. He couldn't afford to get shot a second time. If there was any possibility of him getting out of this alive he had to be able to move and with one leg gone his chances were getting slim. His only choice was to cooperate though he didn't want to, but he did want to get out of this alive.

"Alright … his number is 555-1456."

"I knew you'd see it my way."

"Let's just say you can be very persuasive." Nick retorted.

"So I have been told."

Harris looked around at his men, "Get ready to go." He looked down and saw Nick's portable phone sitting on his coffee table. He picked it up and handed it to Nick. "Change in plans _you_ are going to call your supervisor."

Nick ripped the phone out of Harris's hand, "What do you want me to say?"

"Don't worry I will let you know … now dial."

Nick did as he was told and dialed Grissom's cell phone number. Harris watched in great amusement as Nick held one hand to his leg while the other held the phone.

He glanced up at Harris after he punched in Grissom's cell phone number. He held his breath when the phone started ringing. He heard Grissom answer and then he spoke.

"Grissom it's Nick."

* * *

So what did you think? I hoped you liked it. Please review! Thanks! 


	17. Chapter 17

Hello everyone...here's yet another chapter. Thanks for all of the reviews. It's really appreciated and it keeps me going. Oh and I would also like to say a special thank you once again to my Beta Tefla..Thanks!

Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

The streets that were void of life only moments ago were now littered with police cars and officers. When the call went out that one of their own was abducted, they arrived on scene to help. Grissom, a man of many words, for once didn't have anything to say. This whole situation was way too familiar. He sighed and turned when he heard yet another vehicle pull up. 

Sara had just pulled in behind Vega's car when she spotted Grissom standing there. She knew what he must have been feeling … they were all feeling it. They were all worried for Nick.

Sara felt like she had already worked a double. Though in reality, it was really only the middle of the shift. She slowly got out of the car, retrieved both field kits and walked over to Grissom.

"Thanks Sara," Grissom said reaching for his kit.

"Not a problem Grissom."

Grissom gave her a small smile then turned and headed back to Nick's truck. He opened the driver's side door and reached in. Sara followed him over, but stopped at the rear of the vehicle.

"So where's this witness that you were talking about?" she asked casually and she bent over to view Nick's dented bumper.

"I had an officer take her back to the station for an official statement."

Sara nodded in understanding she stood back up just as Grissom walked back over.

"These are the surveillance tapes that Nick was bringing into the lab. I need you to take these in and work on them." He could see that Sara was about to argue with him. "Sara … I understand that you want to help with this and you will, but four innocent people lost their lives tonight and we owe it to them to find out who did it. If these tapes can help then we have to do everything in our power to find the killers."

"OK," she said taking the tapes and walking back to her car with field kit in hand. "Grissom," she called.

"Yes Sara." Just then his phone rang, "Hold that thought."

He pulled his cell phone off of his belt. The last time he did this it was a call from the witness telling him about Nick's kidnapping. He figured it was probably Catherine calling with an update. He looked at the call display it read 'Nick's house'. His eyes grew wide in shock he quickly turned around looking for any sign of Vega. He finally found him and screamed.

"Vega … we need to get a car over to Nick's house now! There's someone calling me from there."

Vega nodded and pointed to a few officers who ran to their cars and took off. Vega was right behind them.

Sara ran up to Grissom as he answered his phone and put it to his ear. He didn't have a chance to say hello when he heard a pain-filled voice.

"Grissom … it's Nick."

He looked at Sara then answered, "Nick … are you alright?"

* * *

Nick closed his eyes in relief when he heard Grissom's voice come on the line. Though he was in danger, the sound of his voice calmed him. He knew that Grissom would get him out of this. He would make things right. That was who Grissom was. 

He did not have a chance to answer before Harris pulled the phone out of his hand. Nick just glared at him while applying more pressure to his still bleeding leg.

Harris had just put the phone to his ear when he heard, "Nick, are you alright?" he smiled evilly…he was really having fun with all of this.

"Whether Mr. Stokes remains alright is completely up to you Mr. Grissom."

"Who is this?" Grissom asked.

"That doesn't matter."

"What do you want?"

"You have a piece of evidence in that little lab of yours that I want."

"We have a lot of evidence in our lab … you are going to have to be a little more specific." Grissom retorted.

"Of course … it's a disk. A very important disk and I want it back."

"Not to state the obvious but we have a lot of disks as well."

"I grow impatient Mr. Grissom …do not test me."

"I'm sorry perhaps if you put Nick on he may be able to clue me in."

Harris was getting frustrated with this Grissom … perhaps a little demonstration was in order. He looked down at Nick who was slumped in his chair pressing down on his bullet wound to stop the bleeding.

Harris looked at the two men that flanked Nick and said, "Grab his arms and hold him there."

The men grabbed Nick's arms and held them back. He glared at the men as the blood dripped from his hands and onto the carpet. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next. He could see the gleam in the man's eyes and knew it wasn't going to be good. He watched as the phone was placed just in front of his face.

The silence on the other side of the line concerned Grissom, "Hello are you still there?"

Nick could hear a voice coming through the phone and looked at Harris. He watched as Harris balled his fist and aimed at his injured leg. Nick bucked in his chair, but the guards held firm, he couldn't move. He screamed when Harris finally punched him in the leg.

"AHH!"

The hair on Grissom's arm stood when he heard Nick scream, "Nick, Nick are you OK?" he said with worry.

Sara put her hands to her mouth in shock whatever got Grissom upset like that it had to be bad. She hoped Nick was OK, but she had a feeling that he was in real trouble.

Harris leaned over Nick and grabbed his hair again, "Now you tell your boss where that CD is … got it?"

Nick grimaced and nodded his head. Harris put the phone to his ear while still holding onto his hair.

"Grissom."

"Oh my god Nick … what did they do to you?"

"D-Doesn't matter … the CD that he's talking about …" He hissed through the pain. "Um … Greg found it when I came home from the hospital. I-It was in my CD player. I had him t-take it to the lab and file it as evidence, but with the _s-supposed_ _killer_ dead we never looked at it."

Nick had just left Grissom a clue as to who had him. He only hoped that he would get the clue. Harris pulled the phone away from Nick's ear and spoke to his men.

"Take him to the car. As soon as I conclude this call we are out of here. I'm sure by now they know we're here." Harris watched as the men dragged Nick out of the chair and towards the front door.

"Grissom! Grissom!" Nick screamed as he struggled. He stopped when he felt a crack to the head and darkness overtook him.

Grissom listened intently to what Nick had said about the disk and where it was, but there was something else. Nick had said 'supposed killer' did that mean that the real killer had Nick?

There was silence on the phone and Grissom waited for Nick's captor to come back on line when he heard Nick screaming his name and then silence. _'Just hold on Nicky…Vega's going to be there any minute.'_

It made his blood boil that Nick was put in this position once again.

"Now Mr. Grissom you have the information that you so desire. So I suggest that you get yourself over to the lab and get that disk. I will call you with further instructions. Remember Nick's life is in the balance."

"How do I know that you will keep your promise?" Grissom asked.

"You don't."

Then Grissom heard the dial tone. He hung up his phone with force, angry at the whole situation.

Sara looked expectantly at him, "Well what did he say?"

Grissom rubbed his beard then his eyes and looked at Sara, "They want a piece of evidence that we have at the lab for Nick."

"Is Nick OK?"

"I'm not sure … I don't think so. He sounded like he was hurt."

He wasn't going to tell Sara that they hurt him while he listened. He knew the whole team was on the edge and they didn't need to know that.

"Anything else?" she pried.

"Well Nick did mention something that I found strange. He said that Greg had found this disk in Nick's CD player. Nick had Greg bring it to the lab and file it as evidence he said that with the _'supposed killer' _dead that they didn't look at it. He said 'supposed killer'."

"Do you think that the guy at the hospital was a fake and that the real killer has Nick now?"

"I can't be for certain, but I'm leaning that way. I need to call Vega and find out what's going on at Nick's house. That's where the call came from."

* * *

Harris had hung up and flipped the phone on the couch. He turned to leave and took a look around the house. The house wasn't in the exact condition it was in when they first arrived. He had ordered his men to search the place and they were very thorough. There were drops of blood on the floor next to where Nick was sitting as well as a big pool of blood on the chair where Nick sat. _'That's going to be hell to get out'_ he snickered to himself and left the house. 

He ran down the sidewalk and hopped into the waiting truck. He could hear sirens closing in on their location. Carl pulled the truck out of the driveway and squealed down the road. The truck just rounded the corner as the police cars stopped in front of Nick's house.

The officers ran up Nick's sidewalk with their weapons drawn. The front door was still open and the lights were still on. The first officer entered the room and called an all clear. Each officer took a room and soon Nick's house was secured.

Vega walked into Nick's living room only to see blood on both the floor and on the chair. He had a gut feeling that the blood belonged to Nick, but he didn't want to jump ahead of himself. He pulled out his cell to call Grissom when it rang. He answered.

"Detective Vega."

"Vega … It's Grissom. Are you over at Nick's yet?"

"Yea we just got here a few minutes ago. The house is clear, but they were definitely here. You better get over here."

"Why what did you find?"

"First of all there's a lot of blood here … I have a gut feeling it belongs to Nick and second of all the place has been trashed. Like someone was searching for something."

Grissom didn't take to kindly to the news. There was blood at Nick's house, but how much blood? Now he knew why Nick was hurting.

"I'll get over there as soon as I can. I'm waiting for Catherine, Warrick and Greg to finish up at the other scene. Sara is heading back to the lab to bring in the surveillance tapes from the convenience store. Do not let anyone else into Nick's house and make sure no one touches anything."

"Gil … I'm going to forget you said that because I know you are worried about Nick. We do know how to do our jobs. Don't worry we didn't contaminate the crime scene. We will lock the house down … no one will enter until you guys arrive."

"Your right Sam … I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insinuate that you didn't know your jobs. In fact I appreciate everything you guys are doing."

"Well Nick's one of our own. We will help in anyway possible."

"Thanks Sam … I'm going to call Catherine to see where she's at. I'll let you know when we are on our way."

"OK. I'll be waiting for your call then." He hung up his phone.

Grissom looked over to Sara who still stood there. It had only been a few minutes since she arrived, but now they had a wealth of information. They knew that the man that kidnapped Nick wanted a disk at the lab. They also knew that the man for some reason went back to Nick's house. He hoped that they would get lucky and this guy would have made a mistake. Somehow he got the impression that the man wasn't the least bit worried about getting caught.

"Vega just arrived at Nick's a few minutes ago. He said that the place was empty, but they had been there."

"Any sign of Nick?" she asked.

Grissom shook his head, "No there was no one there, but Vega said that there is blood present and the place has been trashed like they were searching for something."

"Maybe they were looking for the disk and once they realized it wasn't there they got violent with Nick."

Grissom considered Sara's words, but he had his own theory. The man that had Nick appeared to be a sadist. His theory was that the man hurt Nick before they realized the CD wasn't there. This man seemed to thrive off Nick's pain and loved being the cause of it. This of course was a great concern to him. He wasn't sure how much longer Nick could last in the hands of this man. Not to mention he didn't trust him with a ten-foot pole.

Grissom didn't share his theory with Sara he just went along with hers.

"I'm going to call Catherine to see what's going on. I want you to head back to the lab. Start working on those tapes. Call me as soon as you find something."

"I'm on it, but call me as soon as you hear anything."

"I will. I promise."

Sara forced a smile, headed back to the truck and drove off towards the lab.

Grissom was once again alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Harris turned around in the front seat to view the unconscious Nick sitting in the backseat. He looked down at the wound on Nick's leg it had been wrapped up and Nick's hands had been tied in front of him. He knew it would only be a matter of time before he got the CD back. Once that was done Mr. Stokes here was going to die. Until then he was going to have some fun. He wasn't sure when he would have another opportunity. He stared at Nick and a smile came across his face.

* * *

Well there you have it. What did you think? As always please let me know your thoughts. Thanks again and see you next chapter! 


	18. Chapter 18

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all of your reviews. All of the comments are appreciated and I would once again like to send out a special thank you to my beta - Tefla. Thanks again!

* * *

Warrick and Catherine stood in front of Nick's house. Grissom had called and explained to them the events that had unfolded. He asked them to come and process the scene while he and Greg were to head back to the lab to locate the CD. The CD disc that would hopefully save Nick's life. 

Catherine and Warrick were lucky enough to have just finished the other crime scene when they received Grissom's call. They wouldn't want anyone but themselves processing Nick's house. Greg was going to take the evidence they had collected at the convenience store and log it at the lab once he arrived there.

Warrick took the first step, neither of them knew what to expect in there. Grissom had mentioned blood evidence and that the place had been trashed. They slowly walked up to the front door where an officer stood guard. They both flashed their IDs and he let them through. The front door opened with a familiar squeak. Nick had mentioned in passing that he had to oil it.

Both CSIs walked into the familiar living room, but with the way it looked there was nothing familiar about it. Nick's CD collection, books, lamps, and his television all lay on the floor. That wasn't what got their attention though. It was the drops of blood on the carpeting and the pool of blood on his armchair.

Catherine squatted next to the armchair and put on a pair of latex gloves, she pulled out a swab and ran it along the cushion of the armchair. She had a feeling it was going to be Nick's blood. She swallowed the lump in her throat as a memory resurfaced. This was the second time she was processing Nick's house as a crime scene. The first time being when Nigel Crane was stalking Nick and had killed Morris Pearson in this very house.

Warrick walked over to the other side of the house to take a look around. It seemed that the men that had Nick didn't spare one room. The whole place was trashed. Nick would be cleaning this up for days. He only hoped that Nick _would_ be around to clean it up.

He sighed. He had better get started. Warrick really didn't feel comfortable with all this. He felt like he was violating his best bud's privacy, but he was positive that Nick would understand. He pushed his feelings aside and started to dust for prints. He would make it a point to help Nick clean up after this whole fiasco was over.

Warrick retrieved a bunch of prints, but he figured the prints he did find were a potpourri of all of the CSIs who had visited Nick's place within the past few weeks. He also figured to add a few cops to that list as well. Though he did hope that they would get lucky with at least one print.

Catherine was on her hands and knees crawling along the floor to see if she could find any stray hairs. She had immediately found a bunch of short brown hairs, which she bagged. They were more than likely Nick's, but you never know. She had found a few long blond ones, _'Gee I wonder who these little babies belong to?'_ she asked herself sarcastically as she took another sample.

She continued to crawl along the floor when she spotted some short blond hairs. _'Hmm…I don't know anyone that has short blond hair maybe we just got lucky, but then again I'm sure we aren't the only people Nick knows.'_ She took out a pair of tweezers and picked up the specimen.

"Any luck?" She heard from behind her.

"I took swabs of the blood on the floor and on the chair. My gut says it belongs to the same person … probably Nick. I've also found some short brown and blond hairs as well as long blond hairs…. I have a feeling that we are going to find a lot of ourselves here. How about you?"

"I was able to get a few fingerprints as well, but I have a feeling we are going to come up empty."

"Well let's hope for the best."

"Yea I know … it's just hard Nick's been through so much and now this."

"Warrick I know how you feel. I'm feeling it too, but we need to stay strong for Nick. He's looking to us to help him out of this."

"You're right of course. I wouldn't want to let my man Nick down."

Catherine smiled at Warrick response, "Why don't you go outside and find out if anyone questioned Nick's neighbors. I'll finish up in here."

"Sounds like a plan."

Catherine watched Warrick as he walked towards the door she could tell by his body language that he was still plagued with guilt. For some reason Warrick felt that it was his sole responsibility to watch over Nick and if anything happened to him that it was his fault.

Nothing could have prepared the CSIs for this. It was none of their faults. They had to start using their feelings of anger and frustration and turn it into hope and determination. She felt confident that they would find something in Nick's house that would help in the search for him. They already received one piece of information from Nick himself. That the man in the hospital lobby was not the original killer and that Nick was with the killer.

* * *

Grissom walked into the lab with a look of determination on his face. Greg wasn't too far behind him, carrying the evidence that was collected at the convenience store crime scene. Grissom stopped short of his office door and turned to address Greg. 

"Greg, process that evidence and once you are through come and find me right away. I will be going through some evidence myself. If for some reason you can't find me, just call my cell."

"Sure thing." Greg continued down the hallway.

The graying entomologist headed towards the case room. He knew that was where they had filed Dustin Schultz's case after the suspect had been killed at the hospital. Now with this new evidence it was apparent that the assailant at the hospital was not the original killer. He walked over to the file cabinet labeled 'S'. He opened it and pulled out Dustin Schultz's file.

He removed the file and headed back to his office. The evidence was still being kept on ice, in storage, if he needed to get to it. Though he figured he would only need the file for now.

He walked into his office and placed the file on his desk, opened it, and read the police report along with Nick's testimony at the hospital. He then looked at the pictures of the dead assailant. His brow furrowed when he looked at the picture. He went back to Nick's statement which read that the 'pit bull' tattoo was on the right arm of the assailant. In the picture of the dead assailant the 'pit bull' tattoo was on his left arm. How could they have missed that? All this time the real killer had been loose and Nick had been unprotected.

He glanced up at the door when he heard a knock. It was Greg. The spiky haired CSI stood there waiting to be invited into the cluttered office.

"Um … I just finished up with logging the evidence."

"OK give me a minute. Have a seat."

Greg nodded and sat down. He glanced over at the file, "The Dustin Schultz file … did you find anything in there?"

"Yes I did … we screwed up big time."

Those words took Greg by surprise, "What do you mean?"

Grissom stood up and leaned over his desk showing him the picture of the dead assailant from the hospital, "Nick's testimony said that the killer had a pit bull tattoo on his right arm in this picture the tattoo is on his left."

"Do you think he could have been mistaken?" Greg asked.

"When Brass and I interviewed him he remembered the tattoo vividly. I guess when you see a pillow coming at your face you are going to remember certain things."

"I'm sorry Grissom I wasn't implying …"

"Greg it's OK. You were just trying to see both sides of the story."

Greg sat back in his chair waiting for Grissom's next move.

"We let Nick down. The killer has been alive this whole time and could have gotten to him and we wouldn't have been the wiser. We are going to have to fix this."

"How?"

"We need to find that CD and get Nick back. Do you know where it's at?"

"Yea. It's in the Evidence vault with the rest of the Schultz case evidence we received."

"Let's go and get it. After that I want to bring the CD over to Archie to see if he can find out what so important about it."

Grissom closed the file on his desk and put it in a drawer. Greg was already on his feet waiting for the older man to finish. Soon both men were out the door headed towards evidence vault. The two men walked down the hallway and passed the A/V room where Sara was hard at work on the tapes from the convenience store.

* * *

Sara had just queued up the first tape and started to watch it. She figured she'd start with the camera near the cash register. She paused when she heard Grissom and Greg walk by, but turned and refocused her attention back on the screen. 

So far the videos had shown nothing, she began to fast forward the tape and that's when she saw it. Five men had entered the store all armed. They didn't even attempt to hide the fact that they were armed. They walked in and started shooting people and walked back out. They didn't even go to the register at all.

Sara rewound the tape and paused it looking at what appeared to be the man in charge. All of the men wore masks. She stared at the screen wishing she had X-ray vision like Superman from the comics. She did notice a marking of some sort on the man's arm. She refocused the pixels and enlarged the screen. She gasped when she saw the 'pit bull' tattoo.

At the same moment of Sara's discover of the tattoo, Erin Matthews, the witness to Nick's kidnapping was walking through the halls with the officer that had escorted her. She had just walked past the A/V lab and glanced at the screen that Sara was working on. She suddenly stopped and stared at it. The officer went a few more feet then realized that Erin wasn't with him. He turned and looked at her with questioning eyes.

Erin had pointed to the screen and said to the officer, "Those are the men that took your CSI. I recognize the clothing."

The officer looked at her then at the screen. He walked over to the door of the A/V lab and knocked. Sara turned from the screen to see the officer and a woman standing in the doorway.

"Can I help you officer?" Sara asked.

"Yes ma'am. This young lady was witness to the kidnapping of CSI Stokes this evening. We were just walking by when she saw your screen." Sara briefly glanced back at the screen then back at the officer. "She says that she recognizes the clothing and these are the men that grabbed Stokes."

Sara looked at Erin then back at the officer, "Thanks officer I'll take it from here. Could you wait outside for us?"

The officer nodded in understanding and left the two women by themselves. Sara got up from her seat and walked over to Erin and extended her hand.

"Hi I'm Sara Sidle, I'm a CSI here and I work closely with Nick Stokes, the man that was kidnapped this evening."

"Erin Matthews." She responded taking Sara's hand and shaking it.

"Now you told the officer that you recognized the clothing."

"That's right. I was able to get a pretty good look at the men that grabbed your friend. Even though they are wearing masks I recognize the clothing and the tattoo. I had neglected to mention it now that I think about it. I'm really sorry about that."

"No don't worry about it. We really appreciate everything that you have done … if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have found out this soon that Nick was grabbed."

"That's what Mr. Grissom said to."

"Well you should listen to him. He knows what he's talking about … most of the time." She said to lighten the mood.

Erin smiled in spite of how she felt. She was scared. All her life she had never witnessed a violent act. She only heard or saw some news report on it. She had never been part of it.

Sara could tell by the look in Erin's eyes that she was scared. She knew the look all to well and had felt that feeling a few times herself. She had always been able to pick herself up and get through it. Erin seemed to be that kind of girl she just needed a little shove.

"Erin I know you are scared and it's understandable, but we won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

She looked at Sara. The fear was slowly dissipating, "You promise?" she asked.

"Yes I promise."

* * *

Nick woke up to a splitting headache. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a small empty room. The only piece of furniture present was the cot he was lying on. He tried to sit up only to find his arms handcuffed to the railing above him. So he scooted himself up to a sitting position where he was able to look at his leg. 

His hands were caked with blood … his blood from the wound in his leg. His leg had been bandaged and it appeared that the bleeding had temporarily stopped. He was thankful for that, so far he didn't feel any ill effects from the blood loss, but then again he still hadn't attempted to stand.

He looked around the room and wondered where he was. He noticed a camera in the upper right hand corner of the room. They probably knew by now that he was awake and he wondered what they had planned for him. He knew that he was a dead man as soon as they got their hands on that CD. He hoped that Grissom and the team could pull a last minute 'Hail Mary' and save him like they did that last time. He took in a deep frustrating sigh. He had a feeling that this time he wasn't going to be so lucky. These guys were professionals.

The last thing he remembered was being hauled out of his house – then nothing. He reached up and felt a lump on his head. _'No wonder I don't remember what happened.'_ He mumbled to himself.

The jingling of keys from just outside the door had caught his attention. He turned himself around and faced the door as it opened. Three armed men had entered the small room and stood around the bed. Finally a fourth man entered carrying a file. This was the man that had shot him. Nick just looked at the man as he walked up to him. He was sure this wasn't a friendly visit.

"How are you enjoying your stay Mr. Stokes?"

"Well I've only been up for about five minutes, but I can honestly say that I'm a little put off with the accommodations." Nick retorted sarcastically looking at his handcuffs.

Harris smiled at Nick's comment, "Well I'm sorry, but we were plain out of plexi-glass coffins."

Nick knew the man was trying to get a rise out of him with that last comment; he wasn't going to be baited.

"Who are you?"

"Let's just say that's something that you don't need to know."

Nick just glared at the man. It was obvious that he wasn't going to get any answers from him. So Nick decided he wasn't going to play along as well. He looked at the file and tried to hide his surprise when he read his name on it. It looked like his work file.

Harris followed Nick's gaze down to the file, "Yes Mr. Stokes this is your work file. I can honestly say its very interesting reading."

Nick remained silent.

He opened the folder and looked through its contents and continued to speak., "It says here that you played college sports down at Texas A&M." he looked back up at Nick for a response. "Is that so?"

Nick still remained silent.

"So you like to play games Mr. Stokes. Let's see if you like the kind of games I play."

Harris looked over at his men, "Uncuff him and bring him." He said as he walked out of the room.

Nick watched as one of the men uncuffed his arms from the cot and then cuffed his arms in front of him. He was violently pulled up and pushed out of the room. He felt a spike of pain through his leg as soon as he put weight on it. He could feel a gun in his back and hoped that he wouldn't fall as he was being pushed along.

The hallway that he was led down was just made out of concrete cinder block. Dark pipes lined the ceiling. If he were a guessing man he would have guessed that he was in the basement of some building. But usually CSIs didn't guess … they would let the evidence speak for itself. And that's what happened when Nick spied an elevator just down the hallway. He nonchalantly looked away hoping to trick his captors into believing he didn't spy the elevator.

He felt a hand wrap around his arm as he was led into another room. This room was a little bigger than the room he woke up in. There was one lone chair in the center of the room and a small table just against the wall to the left. He was pushed down into the chair. Two men stayed on either side of him.

He sat there and waited for Harris. He could feel his body starting to betray him again. He could feel the sweat starting to accumulate on his forehead. He could feel his heart beating faster. Nick wasn't sure what this guy had planned for him, but the waiting was part of the torture. It was the anticipation of what was going to happen. He had a feeling that this guy had a lot of practice in torturing people. That however, didn't bring Nick any comfort.

Harris finally entered the room and spied Nick sitting on the chair. He smiled when he saw the glint of perspiration on Nick's forehead. He had waited on purpose … this was part of the fun. The anticipation of what was going to happen made more men go crazy then just plain torture.

He walked up to the CSI, "So Mr. Stokes are you ready to play one of my favorite games."

Nick still glared at the man.

Harris pulled out a gun with a smile, "It's time for some Russian Roulette."

* * *

Well there you have it. Hoped you liked it. As usual please review. Thanks! 


	19. Chapter 19

Hi everyone...thanks for all of the reviews. Thanks again to Tefla.

Enjoy!

* * *

Nick squirmed in his seat as he watched Harris load a single bullet into the chamber of the gun he held. He took the cylinder and gave it one big spin before closing it. As a teenager, Nick used to watch old war movies with his father. In these old movies the evil warden of the prison camp always forced the prisoners to play Russian Roulette. He never thought that he would be subject to that. 

He looked around for support, but found none. In fact, the men that surrounded him almost seemed excited. What they were excited about … Nick wasn't sure. Did they want to see how he reacted to this? Did they want to see his brains blown out? He didn't know the answer and he really didn't care. All he cared about was getting out of this situation alive.

He wasn't tied to the chair and he figured that if he was going to get shot _again _… then he would go down fighting. He jumped up from his chair and tried to make it to the exit. This move surprised Harris and his men, but they recovered quickly and seized Nick before even he had a chance to take two steps. He was thrown back into his chair.

"That was a stupid mistake Mr. Stokes. Now instead of only one bullet in the chamber there will be two. So your chances of dying have just increased."

"Go to hell you son of a … uhhh!"

One of the guards hit him with the butt of his gun before Nick could finish his sentence. He once again reached up to feel his head.

Harris pulled out another bullet and placed it in the chamber of the gun. He gave it another spin and closed the cylinder. He looked at Nick.

"Are you ready to take your chances Mr. Stokes." Harris said as he pointed the gun at Nick's forehead.

"Please don't do this." Nick said struggling, but it was no use as he was firmly held in place.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stokes … but your plea has fallen on deaf ears."

Nick could feel his breathing change to a quicker pace. The perspiration that had collected on his forehead rolled down onto his cheek, his heart raced.

'_Oh God'_ he thought to himself as he looked Harris in the eyes and then at the gun pointed at him. _'This is it … I'm going to die.'_ He watched as Harris slowly pulled the trigger. He closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable and jerked when he heard a click.

He heard laughter coming from behind him. He opened his eyes … he wasn't dead. One single tear fell from the relief he felt, but the relief was short-lived when Harris opened the cylinder and gave it another spin.

"Let's see if your luck holds out Mr. Stokes."

The door to the room slowly opened and Carl walked in, Harris turned towards the door temporarily blocking Nick's view. Carl stopped just in front of Harris.

"Mr. Harris I have some news."

Though Nick couldn't see the man standing in front of Harris he thought he recognized the voice.

"What do you have for me Carl?"

Nick's eyes grew wide and he said out loud, "Carl Stenson."

Carl peeked around Harris, "Hello Nick."

"You … you're working with them!" Nick knew Carl from the lab. He had worked closely with him on a number of cases. Carl was Bobby Dawson's backup in the ballistics lab. They had even gone for drinks a few times after work.

Carl only smiled and returned his attention to Harris, "It seems that there was a witness to Nick's abduction."

He watched Harris's expression turned from pleased to angry within seconds.

"What do you mean another witness?" Harris yelled.

Harris was not happy. There was a witness to the CSI's abduction. This was not good news. He turned back towards the CSI. Harris needed to vent his anger. Who was better than someone who couldn't defend himself? The game of Russian Roulette would have to wait.

He turned around to see the CSI glaring at Carl. Harris balled his fist and punched Nick in the face. Nick's head snapped back.

Nick looked over to Carl, "I thought you were my friend. Help me."

"You are mistaken Nick. I was never your friend. In fact, there's nothing about you that I like."

The words hit Nick like a ton of bricks just as Harris stepped in closer. He grabbed the CSI's vest and proceeded to punch him four more times. Nick attempted to put his arms up to defend himself, but they were held back. The punches continued until Nick was bloodied and unconscious on the floor.

He looked down at the unconscious man. His anger wasn't even close to being mollified. Harris began to kick the unconscious man in the ribs until he was finally winded.

"Take him back to his room and make sure you cuff him back up to the railing." Harris ordered.

The two men that had been guarding Nick each grabbed an arm and dragged the unconscious CSI out and back to his prison.

Harris turned back around to address Carl, "OK tell me about this witness."

"Her name is Erin Matthews. She owns a store right where we grabbed Stokes. Apparently she was just closing up and was at the front door when she saw us take him."

"Do they have any leads?"

"Yes … they do. So far this witness was able to identify us as being in the convenience store. She wasn't able to identify our faces, but she recognized the clothing. So the CSIs know that the two cases are some how connected."

"Anything else?"

"The only other thing is that CSIs Willows and Brown are over at Stokes' house processing it as we speak. I'm not sure if they are going to find anything or not. If they do I will let you know."

"What about the disk?"

"I haven't been back to the lab yet. So I'm not sure what's going on with that."

"Well find out. Now let's talk about this witness and what we are going to do about her."

* * *

Greg and Grissom walked into the evidence vault and checked the log. Dustin Schultz's evidence was on Shelf A, Section 2. Both men walked over to the section and pulled down the box that housed the CD they were looking for. On the front of the box the case file #1254-789 was written in black marker. The list of everything in the box was taped to the front of it. It was handwritten list. 

Evidence List for Case File #1254-789

_1 pair of blue jeans_

_1 gray T-shirt_

_1 blue jacket_

_Wallet_

_Keys_

_Socks_

_Shoes_

_CD_

The two CSIs looked at each other before Grissom reached in and pulled out the CD. It was amazing that something so thin, so fragile could cause such problems. Both men wondered what was so important on this CD that had cost one man to lose his life and endangered the life of another.

Grissom pulled out a pen and signed the CD out. Greg placed the box back on the shelf and both men walked out of the vault and made a beeline straight to the A/V lab and Archie.

Archie Johnson, the Las Vegas Crime Lab's computer guru and A/V tech, sat at his desk while he worked on some still shots of an apparent burglary. His attention was diverted when a noise came from the doorway. He turned around to see the two CSIs standing there. This was only one of the many A/V labs they had in the building. Archie had just left Sara in the other one with a witness.

He didn't even have a chance to say hello before Grissom was handing him a CD.

"Archie I need you to put everything aside right now and look at this CD. I need to know what the contents are … and I need to know yesterday."

"But Grissom I'm working …"

"Archie this CD is what's going to make the difference on whether or not Nick lives or dies. So please put what you are doing aside and work on this."

Grissom's tone said that there was no room for argument.

Archie swallowed and took the CD from Grissom. He walked over to the computer and placed the CD in the drive. A screen popped up with encryption.

Archie shook his head, "This is going to take me awhile to get through Grissom. When did you need this by?"

"First things first, I want you to make a copy of this CD. Secondly the men who want this CD will be calling me shortly. I would like to know what's on it before then. If you can't break the encryption that's fine. Just do your best."

"I'll call you when I learn anything."

"Thanks Archie. Remember this is your number one priority." Grissom said as he and Greg walked out of the A/V lab.

Greg could barely keep up with Grissom he was like a man possessed. They just rounded the corner when they bumped into Catherine and Warrick. The two CSIs just returned from processing Nick's house.

"So what did you find?" Grissom asked not worrying about pleasantries.

"We got a couple fingerprints, some hair samples and blood. That's about it." Catherine answered.

"What about the neighbors? Did anyone see anything?"

Warrick answered not holding back his frustration, "The police canvassed the area and questioned the neighbors. No one saw a thing."

"OK. Why don't you guys get that stuff over to trace, run the prints and then get back to me in an hour. I want to go over what we know so far in the case."

"OK then we'll meet you in the break room in an hour."

Grissom turned around to face Greg, "Greg I want you to see what you can pull up on the 'pit bull' tattoo. I find it odd that two men involved in this murder investigation just so happen to have the same tattoo. Be sure to check military records. These men may be involved in some gang related activities also. Be thorough."

"I'm on it." Greg turned back the way he came and headed back towards the offices were the computers were housed.

* * *

Carl Stenson had just parked his car and walked into the lab. He flashed his ID at Judy and she waved him by. Carl had only been working at the lab for about six months, but in that short time he had made quite a bit of friends. It was those friends who unsuspectingly fed him the information he needed. He walked by the A/V lab and took a peek in through the windows only to see Sara and the witness, Erin Matthews, still talking. He nearly collided with the officer that stood outside the room. 

"Sorry about that officer … wasn't watching where I was going." He said smiling.

"Hey no problem.'

'_Damn'_ he thought _'… it was going to be harder than he thought to get to the witness.' _

He had to admit to himself he was both a little nervous and excited at the same time. He had actually gotten the job at the lab because he was in need of some real work and he knew about ballistics. He was surprised when he was called to say that he had gotten the job.

Carl had been working at the lab for about six weeks before Harris contacted him. They were in the military together and Carl was known to go on some missions with Harris … no questions asked. The money was good and he enjoyed the killing. So when Harris asked Carl if he could be the inside plant at the lab he jumped at the chance. There was always room for more money in his bank account.

He continued to walk through the lab when he spotted Greg sitting at the computer. He knocked on the door and walked in.

"Hey Greg, what's going on?" he asked sitting down next to the youngest CSI.

"Just doing some research for Grissom."

"Sounds interesting."

"Not really, but it has something to do with Nick's case. I don't mean to be rude, but I really need to get through this. Grissom is expecting me to have something in an hour. So time is of the essence."

"Hey no problem man. Let me know if you need any help ... I'll talk to you later." He said as he got up from his seat and left the room.

Carl finally walked into the Ballistics Lab. There was nothing going on at the moment. So he sat there biding his time. He knew that the CSIs were all meeting in an hour. That was his chance to get at the witness.

* * *

After Grissom left Greg he wandered over to the other A/V lab where Sara was working on the convenience store tapes. He was surprised when he walked in to find both Sara and Erin seated in front of the screen. 

"Hello ladies. I see you have met." Grissom said as he entered through the door. "So Sara, what have you found out about the convenience store robbery?"

"Well it's not what I found, but what Erin found."

"Care to explain."

"I was reviewing the tapes when Erin walked by. She recognized the clothing on the men from the convenience store."

"Where have you seen the clothing before?" Grissom asked Erin.

"It's the same men that grabbed your CSI."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm positive."

Grissom stood there. The wheels in his head were cranking, "This was a set up."

"What?" Erin asked.

"This whole thing was another set up. These men went into the store and killed those people, because they knew we would respond to the scene. And I gave them what they wanted by sending Nick back to the lab by himself."

Grissom was angry with himself. Now he understood how Warrick felt by winning that coin toss. He was now more determined than ever to find out who was responsible and bring them to justice.

* * *

Hoped you liked it...please review. Thanks! 


	20. Chapter 20

Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews and another special thanks to Tefla!

* * *

Carl looked at the clock in the Ballistics lab. There was only ten more minutes until the CSIs met. At that point he would make his move and no one would be the wiser. Harris would have a car, ready and waiting, to take Erin Matthews away from the safety of the lab. 

He got up from his chair and headed towards the break room. He wanted to see if the CSIs were meeting. He went in to get a cup of coffee just as Catherine, Warrick and Greg walked in. He nodded and smiled at them as he exited. He passed Sara and Grissom in the hallway and was able to pick up a little of their conversation.

"I left Erin in the A/V Lab. I told her I would be back shortly."

Carl stopped and watched as the two CSIs joined the other three in the break room. He would have to make his move now.

He walked over to the A/V lab that was currently occupied by Erin Matthews. As he suspected the cop was still standing outside … guarding her. He sipped his coffee as he casually walked up the hallway towards the cop. As he got closer he tripped and spilled his coffee down the front of the cop's uniform shirt. The officer looked down at his shirt then at Carl.

Carl acted horrified, "Oh my God … I am so sorry." He said trying to clean the front of the officer's shirt. "Today is just not my day."

The officer stepped back from Carl, "Look it's alright. I'll just go and clean it up."

He leaned his head into the lab, "Miss Matthews, I'll be right back. We had a little collision in the hallway here and I need to clean up. I will only be gone for a few minutes."

Erin smiled, "Use cold water … it always works best and be sure to dab and not rub."

"Will do."

Carl stood there with a sheepish expression as the cop walked away. He turned his attention back to the A/V lab and to Erin. She was watching him from her seat in front of the computer screen.

He put on his best smile and made his way towards her, "I guess I'm a little clumsy today."

She smiled back, "I think we all have our fair share of clumsy days."

"Well God knows I have had enough mishaps to last a lifetime."

She nodded in agreement.

Inwardly Carl was pleased that the encounter was going so well. Time to go for it.

"I was going to go outside for a bit of fresh air … would you care to join me? I'm Carl by the way."

"Erin. Sure I could use some fresh air right about now. I've been stuck in this lab for hours already."

Being ever the gentleman, Carl put his hand out for Erin to grab as she stood up.

"Shall we," he asked.

"Let's go."

The pair walked out of the A/V lab and out into the hallway. Once they got outside the air was crisp and cool. It was known that the days were hot in Las Vegas, but the temperature always dropped at night.

Carl was relieved that they weren't stopped or seen by anyone, which was a rare occurrence. As they emerged from the building he looked over to Erin.

"You know what? I totally forgot that I needed to get something out of my car. Would you like to go for a little walk? My car is just over there." He pointed at a somewhat close parking spot. A dark-colored van was parked next to it. Little did Erin know that the van held three men in its interior. Two men which were waiting just to grab her and a driver.

"A walk sounds nice … even if it is a short one."

The couple made their way into the parking lot. It was another clear night in the city that never sleeps. Erin looked up admiring the stars. It was the most relaxed she had felt all night. Something about the stars always calmed her.

Carl maintained his charade and reached into his pocket just as they both arrived at his car. The two of them had their backs to the van. He turned and looked over to her and found her gazing up at the night sky. She was completely oblivious to what was about to happen to her.

The van door slowly crept open as two menacing figures dressed in black reached out and grabbed Erin. She felt one hand snake around her waist while another hand went over her mouth. She never even had the chance to scream.

She looked to Carl for help as she struggled to get loose. She felt relief wash over her when he stepped towards them, but her hopes were soon crushed when he spoke.

"Bring her to Harris unharmed. He wants to have a little fun with her."

Erin screamed into the hand that covered her mouth. Her eyes widened in fear. Only moments ago she had felt a serene calmness settle over her but now she was living a nightmare. She continued to kick and scream as she was pulled into the van. The last thing that she saw before the door closed was the evil sneer on Carl's face. At the sudden absence of light, Erin lost the battle of wills that she'd been trying to project and tears silently began to fall.

The tears continued to fall as they tied her hands and feet together. She tried to scream again when she felt her mouth uncovered, but they quickly replaced the hand with duct tape. She closed her eyes and the words that Sara had told her popped into her head. '_Sara … you said that you'd protect me.'_

Carl watched in deep satisfaction as the van drove off with their newest guest. His plan had gone off without a hitch. He turned back towards the lab. Harris asked him to find out as much info he could and that was what he was going to do.

* * *

The break room table looked like the floor of a circus tent after the clowns went crazy with confetti. The table was covered with pictures, papers and file folders. 

Each member of Grissom's team sat in front of him … minus one. This meeting was called to discuss the evidence they had so far. He looked down at the organized chaos then back at his team.

"OK. Who wants to go first?" Grissom asked looking around the table.

Greg took the opportunity, "I'll go first. I checked every database I could and only found one reference to a 'pit bull' tattoo. Unfortunately I was not able to get much as it was in the military database and labeled as 'classified'. But being the man that I am I was still able to get a little information." The others in the room smiled. "There is only one military group that has the 'pit bull' as their insignia and it's a small group of marines. These men were trained to do the impossible. Most, if not all, of their missions are marked as classified. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the names of the men in the group, but I do know that they all have matching 'pit bull' tattoos on their right forearms."

"Thanks Greg."

"Sure." Greg replied back as he spilled his coffee on his lap. "Ow! That's hot." He said as he jumped up, tripped over his chair and fell back onto the floor.

Warrick tried to hide the smile, but the stress level was so thick the past few hours that you could have used a knife to cut through it. At the expense of Greg's pride the group had a small chuckle.

"I'll be right back." Greg said getting up off the floor. "Just need to clean up."

"Don't be gone too long Greg." Grissom replied.

"No more than five minutes tops." Greg walked out of the break room and headed towards the men's room. He just wanted to wipe some of the excess coffee off and wash his hands. He would change his clothes later.

He shook his head as he wondered towards the men's room, _'Way to impress Grissom … idiot'_ he said to himself.

Carl knew that the group of CSIs were still meeting and he wondered how long it would take for the officer to realize that Erin was no longer in the building. If the officer found him all he would say was that he left her in the A/V lab since no one saw them leave the building.

He noticed Greg coming down the hall and walk into the men's room. Was the meeting already over? Carl followed the CSI into the men's room. Greg was at the sink as Carl walked over to the urinal.

"The meeting over already?" Carl asked innocently.

"No, not yet. We are still going over a few things. I accidentally spilled coffee on myself. I'm just getting cleaned up then heading back to the meeting."

Carl zipped his pants and walked over to the sink next to where Greg stood. Greg was still wiping the front of his shirt as Carl rolled up his sleeves to wash his hands.

"So do you have any leads so far?"

"Nothing conclusive." Greg said as he looked over at Carl in the mirror. He tried to remain calm when he spotted the 'pit bull' tattoo on Carl's right forearm. _'How come I never noticed that tattoo before?'_ Greg thought to himself.

"Well good luck. I hope that you guys get a lead on Nick. If I can do anything to help let me know." Carl said drying his hands and walking out of the men's room.

"You may be helping sooner than you think." Greg replied watching the door close.

"So where do we stand with the hairs?" Grissom asked.

"We still have not received anything from Wendy yet, but she will bring by the results as soon as she has them."

The words weren't even out of Catherine's mouth before Wendy came to the break room door and knocked.

"Catherine, here are the results to the hair samples you collected at Nick's house."

"Thanks Wendy."

Catherine took the paper from Wendy and skimmed over it, "Well so far nothing is jumping out some of the hairs belonged to us and to Nick of course. Wait a minute … Warrick how close are you guys to Carl Stenson?"

"Not super close. Why?"

"Do you know if he's ever been over at Nick's house?"

"Nah. We've gone out drinking a few times, but he's never been over to either of our houses … why?"

"The short, blond, hairs I found over at Nick's belong to Carl Stenson."

Warrick didn't have a chance to respond as Greg came dashing back into the break room.

"You guys I just saw Carl Stenson in the men's room and you'll never guess what he has on his right forearm."

Grissom looked at Greg and answered, "A 'pit bull' tattoo."

"Bingo." Greg said as he sat down in his chair.

"It looks like we have a suspect."

"Oh my God!" Sara exclaimed as she jumped from her seat.

"What is it Sara?" Catherine asked concerned.

"If Carl is part of this … then he could have access to Erin." She said running out of the break room with the other CSIs on her tail.

The group got to the A/V lab to find it empty. The officer wasn't there and neither was Erin.

"Sara relax. Maybe Erin had to use the ladies room or went for a drink." Greg suggested, but as he said that the officer came around the corner.

Sara stormed over to the officer, "Officer where is Miss Matthews?"

"She was here just a few minutes ago. One of your people accidentally spilled coffee on me. I went to wash up and left her with your technician."

"Do you know which one?" Grissom asked.

"He had short blond hair. If I recall correctly I think he worked in the ballistics lab."

"Carl Stenson." Catherine said.

"Well if anyone would know where Erin is … it's Carl. Officer would you please come with us? Grissom asked.

* * *

Nick woke up again, but this time it was to a lot of pain. He was sprawled out face first onto the cot with his arm handcuffed to the railing. His attempt to sit up was thwarted when he felt a sharp pain in his ribs. After a quick assessment of his injuries he found that he had a few minor abrasions on his face as well as a split lip … plus a few broken ribs. 

He didn't remember his ribs hurting like this when he was conscious the last time. The man Carl had called Harris must have done this to him after he was out. He slowly sat up, this time trying to be careful not to jar his ribs.

His surroundings hadn't changed at all since the last time he occupied this room. He slowly reached up to feel his forehead. Nick knew that the gun was no longer there, but he could still feel it as if it were being pushed against his forehead that very instance. He took a shaky breath and tried to calm himself. There was no way he could get out of here if he was basket case.

Nick knew that if he lived through this that he would be plagued with nightmares. It seemed that nightmares were a part of his everyday life. No matter how much therapy he went through there was just no stopping them. Medication was never a consideration with him either. He would deal with them as best as he could and with the help of his friends.

He heard a familiar jingle from outside the room and turned his head over to the door as it opened. Three armed men dragged a woman into Nick's room. She was tied up and gagged. She looked over at Nick as she was escorted in and couldn't hide the look of recognition when she saw him sitting on the bed nursing his ribs.

The men pushed the woman to the floor and walked out without untying her. Nick looked at her and could tell that she had been crying. She sat up the best she could with her hands tied behind her and looked at Nick.

"If you come over here I can try to untie you. Normally I would get up in a lady's presence, but I'm kind of tied up at the moment." Nick said lifting his arm to show her the handcuffs.

She nodded in response and slowly stood up and walked over to Nick. She bent over and Nick tore the tape off.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome. Now let's see if I can untie your hands."

She turned around and waited for Nick to start.

"Um … it might work better if you sit down."

"Oh I'm sorry." She sat down and could feel him start to work on untying her hands.

Within minutes Nick had been able to free her. She rubbed at her wrists and turned to look at the man that had freed her. He looked a lot more roughed up than the last time she saw him. If was obvious that these men weren't kind to him.

"Thank you for that." She said her voice shaky.

"Your welcome. Gee … you wouldn't happen to have a handcuff key would you?" Nick replied trying to lighten the mood.

"Sorry I don't." she smiled.

"That's OK. It was kind of a long shot asking anyway." Nick held out his hand. "Nick Stokes."

She grabbed his hand and shook it, "Erin Matthews and I know exactly who you are Mr. Stokes."

* * *

Hoped you liked it. Please review. Thanks! 


	21. Chapter 21

Hi everyone...thanks again for the great reviews and a special thanks goes out to Tefla. Thanks for your help.

Now here's the long awaited chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Nick looked at Erin incredulously, "How do you know me?" he asked hunched over as he favored his ribs 

Erin noticed a spark of emotion come over Nick's face and jumped off the edge of the bed where she sat. She heard a slight gasp and cringed at the unintentional pain she had caused him. Apparently he was hurt more than he showed.

She walked across the room to give him space. His face had spoken volumes. This man had been through a lot. He had bruising and cuts on his face. She could see a hole in his right pant leg with dried blood covering it. Had he been shot? Though she was scared, and the situation wasn't good, she set herself to put Nick's mind at ease. She turned around to face the battered man.

"Relax Mr. Stokes … before tonight I never knew you existed."

Nick visibly relaxed, "It's Nick. How did you get dragged into all this?"

Erin looked at Nick thinking of the right words to say, "Let's just say I witnessed a crime tonight. At least that's why I think I'm here."

He waited for her to elaborate and when she didn't the investigator in him took over. "What crime did you witness Miss Matthews?" he asked trying to get comfortable.

"Since we are obviously in the same boat here … please call me Erin. To answer your question, I witnessed an abduction …yours."

Nick blanched at the last remark and looked away. He didn't know what to say, but he did know how he felt. He had unknowingly dragged yet another innocent person into his mess.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered.

Erin looked at him suddenly. Call it woman's intuition, but she could tell that her words had wounded him. That wasn't her intention.

"Nick this wasn't your fault. You didn't ask for this to happen."

He looked back up at her, "You got dragged into this whole mess because of me."

"No I got dragged into this mess because of those guys out there. Look your friends are working to find you. I've been with them for the last few hours. They knew you were missing shortly after you were taken." She hoped that that news would lift his spirits.

Pausing for a moment, it was Erin's turn to look at the floor. The silence hung between the two prisoners for a few minutes. The only audible noise being the gentle squeaking of the cot Nick was sitting on as he shifted his position. That noise brought Erin out of her silence and she turned her gaze back to Nick's.

"If anything, with regards to my being here now, it's my fault. I was naïve enough to place my trust in someone who works with you. A total stranger asked if I wanted to join him outside for some fresh air. I followed him outside without anyone knowing about it. I shouldn't have been so trustworthy. The next thing I knew we we're standing by his car. When someone grabbed me from behind, I started to get this feeling that something wasn't right. I was correct though as your co-worker made no attempt to aid me. He even told whomever grabbed me to …_'Bring her to Harris,'_" she said trying to mimic the voice.

Nick gave Erin a brief smile before he mulled over what she had just told him. So she'd been lured outside, from the safety the Lab had to offer by someone whom he assumed was a co-worker. His head snapped up as he glanced sharply at Erin. With what he had learned tonight about Carl, it was certainly plausible. How else would she be here now? He motioned to Erin to sit down and as she moved to sit back on the cot … he spoke.

"Erin, this stranger that you speak of … did he give you his name?"

"He did, strange as it seems. He called himself Carl."

Nick absorbed the news, "Carl Stenson … he works in the ballistics lab. Don't worry Erin. He played me too and for a lot longer." He said with spite as he shifted again with a grimace.

"Nick why don't you let me take a look at those ribs and your leg … were you shot?"

He nodded warily as he examined his leg.

"I grew up with three brothers. Unfortunately someone was always hurt in my house so needless to say I had the opportunity to learn some basic first aid. Though I'm not sure what I'll be able to do for you."

"I'm not sure if I should."

Erin appeared hurt from the comment.

"I'm sorry Erin. I didn't mean that I don't trust you, it's just that we are on closed circuit television." He pointed in the direction of the camera. "I'm not sure if I should show how hurt I am."

"Well Nick I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that they probably already know considering they're probably the ones that did it to you."

Nick thought about what she said. It was true Harris probably did know that his ribs were broken. He looked over to Erin who was waiting patiently for his answer. He sighed, "My leg is good for now, but my ribs … I think some might be broken. They really did a number on me."

He moaned as he moved to the edge of the cot. The last time he had broken his ribs it was courtesy of Nigel Crane and a two-storey fall. It took him a while to get over that. He woke up every night with the sensation of falling. The sound of a throat clearing brought Nick back to the present. He innocently looked over to Erin who was waiting for him.

"We are going to have to take this vest off first before I can get a look at those ribs."

"You have a good point there." He reached up and unzipped his vest he went to remove it, but grunted in pain from the movement.

She sat down next to him on the cot, "Here let me help you." Erin said as she slid the vest off one arm then another. Unfortunately the vest hung off of the handcuffs since Nick was still bound to the cot.

Erin stood up and came around to the front of him and knelt down, "OK Nick. Let's see those ribs."

He pulled out and lifted his shirt and watched as Erin visually examined his midsection.

"Just warning you … I'm going to be checking your ribs now."

She reached up and felt his ribs. She did see severe bruising and she felt three breaks on his right side. Erin felt him flinch from the contact.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," She said as she checked the left side.

"It's not that … cold hands." He said with a smile.

She smiled back, "Well from what I can feel it looks like you have three broken ribs on your right side. The other side is fine. Unfortunately there's nothing in here we can use to wrap it … sorry."

"Not your fault." He said pulling his shirt back down. Erin helped him put his vest back on.

"Now let's take a look at that leg. How long ago were you shot?"

Nick thought about it, "It's been a couple of hours. I think the bleeding finally stopped, but the bullet is still in there."

Erin looked closely at the wound the bleeding in fact had stopped, but it would get infected if they didn't get that bullet out soon.

"You were right the bleeding has stopped. I'm just going to wrap it anyway to keep it covered." She ripped the bottom part of her blouse off and used that as a bandage. She wrapped it around his leg. He grunted when she pulled it taut.

"Thanks." He said as he slowly pushed himself back against the wall. He motioned for her to once again join him on the cot.

"You're welcome," she replied. As Erin moved to sit down on the cot she spoke again, "So what do they want with you?"

He looked at Erin, wary about telling her the whole story. He figured he might as well share every morbid detail. She was in this mess because of him, no matter how much she denied this fact.

"It's actually two things they want. Neither of them are good and the outcome is even worse."

"Go on."

Nick paused briefly before beginning his explanation of events that unfolded and led them both to their current situation. "It might just be easier if I start from the beginning. A little over a month ago I had gone to the Desert Palms Emergency room with pains in my side. After a few tests the doctors determined it was appendicitis. I was immediately admitted and sent upstairs to a room. When I was wheeled into the room I found one of the beds occupied by another man - Dustin Schultz."

Erin nodded her head as she listened and urged him to continue with his story.

"He seemed like a nice enough guy and we got on really well. We talked for a while he asked me what I did for a living and I told him." Nick stopped for a minute to ponder a thought. "Come to think of it he did seem a little excited that I worked for the police station."

"Why would you say that?"

"My guess is the disk."

"The disk … what disk?" she asked apparently confused.

"Well we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here. Let's back up."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

He smiled back at her, "Don't worry about it." He continued with the story. "Anyway a few hours had gone by and they took me down to surgery. The surgery went fine and I was brought back up to my room. During the middle of the night I heard struggling coming from Dustin's side of the room. I looked over to see that man that they call Harris standing next to Dustin with a pillow over his head."

"What did you do?" Erin asked.

"At first I tried to get out of bed to help, but I was still to weak from the surgery. Before I knew it I could no longer here Dustin's struggling. I looked over only to see Harris staring at me. He grabbed the pillow he had just killed Dustin with and came after me."

Erin swallowed she couldn't even fathom the fear that Nick felt at that time. He was in the hospital somewhere where he was supposed to be safe – a safe haven if you want to call it that.

"You must have been so frightened."

"_I was_ … I forgot where I was and inadvertently reached for my gun. It wasn't there, but in doing that I accidentally had hit the call button. Within seconds the nurse came on over the speaker and asked if I needed anything."

"What did you do?"

"I screamed for help is what I did, but before I could get any other words out Harris had the pillow over my head. I was able to hold him off for a little while, but I soon found myself losing strength. Just as my strength had gone out I felt the grip loosen on the pillow. The nurse had come to the door and scared off Harris."

"So Harris tried to kill you … wow." She sat there taking in everything he said than asked, "So what's the deal with the disk?"

"To tell you the truth I'm not sure. I believe that Dustin hid this disk in my CD player when I went down to surgery. One of my friends, Greg Sanders, found the disk about a week later."

"Do you know what's on the disk?"

"I haven't the foggiest. The case had been closed so we never looked at the disk. We only catalogued it as evidence."

"Excuse my ignorance, but how could you have closed Dustin's case if Harris was still loose?"

Nick looked at Erin, he really didn't want to continue the story, but he owed it to her.

"Since I witnessed Dustin's murder and could identify the killer I was placed in protective custody. The day of my release my friends: Warrick, Greg and Jim Brass came to escort me home along with the two cops that were assigned to guard me." He stopped for a moment he could feel the emotion like it was yesterday.

Erin could see from Nick's face that talking about this was bringing up bad memories, "Nick you don't have to finish … it's OK."

"No … you deserve the whole story since you are now in this mess."

"Just take your time."

He smiled at her thoughtfulness, "Thanks." He made a poor attempt at taking deep breath since his ribs were broken and continued with the story.

"My friend Warrick went down to get the car and Greg took my car back to my place. Brass and the two cops stayed with me in my room. A few minutes went by and the nurse came in with a wheel chair. We left the room and got into the elevator. When we hit the lobby and the doors opened there was a man standing there with a gun. H-h-he shot the t-t-two cops, my f-f-friend Jim Brass and the nurse. Of the four that were shot, only one survived … Jim Brass."

"I'm so sorry."

Nick nodded gratefully then continued, "This killer had me dead to rights with a gun to my head. He could have pulled the trigger at any time, but he didn't get the chance as Warrick showed up. Warrick warned the guy not to shoot, but the guy just laughed at him and turned back around to finish me off. He didn't have the chance. Warrick shot him three times."

Erin glanced at Nick who was staring at the floor in front of him. She could tell that repeating this story had reopened wounds. She reached over and put his hand in hers. It was a small gesture and one she hoped that he would appreciate.

He looked over at her grateful for the contact and attempted a small smile. "I'm almost done. Just give me a minute." He looked back down to the floor.

"Take your time Nick." She said as she continued to hold his hand.

He gently squeezed her hand in appreciation to what she said and continued with the story, "Warrick shot the guy three times and he was declared dead at the scene. When the police had originally interviewed me they asked if I could remember any identifying marks on the killer … say a tattoo or scar. The thing I remember vividly was the 'pit bull' tattoo that is on Harris' right arm. So when this guy was killed everyone thought it was Harris, but obviously it wasn't. Up until tonight, I honestly thought the killer was dead."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through all that."

"Well Erin, it's the story of my life. I guess I'm just a trouble magnet." He said trying to lighten the mood.

Erin attempted a smile, but it was hard. She could still see the emotion in Nick's eyes. "So Mr. Trouble Magnet, where does this mysterious disk come into play?"

"Oh yeah the disk. Well after my second close call I finally went home. While I was sleeping my friend Greg found an extra CD in my CD player. It was placed just under my music CD. When I woke up he asked me about it. I obviously didn't know what it was, but the only other person that had access to my CD player was Dustin. I had a feeling it was part of the case and had Greg take it to the lab and place it with the rest of the evidence for Dustin's case. Since the case was officially closed no one ever looked at the disk. It just sat in the evidence locker."

"So now Harris wants it."

"Yep … and he's using me to get it."

"OK. Another stupid question: if Carl works at the lab why didn't he just take the disk?"

Nick smiled at her deductive reasoning, "Erin that's not a stupid question. I'm thinking about it. There could be a few reasons why Carl didn't do it. The most obvious one is that the evidence vault is video recorded and plus if anyone takes an evidence out they need to sign for it. The other reason would be he just didn't know where it was. That is the reason I'm going with. Considering the fact that after they grabbed me, they took me straight to my house and turned the whole place upside down looking for it. In fact that's where I got this." He pointed to his leg.

"Why on earth did they shoot you?"

"Do they really need a reason?"

Erin thought about if for a minute then answered, "I guess not. Nothing seems beneath these guys."

"Yea. I'm with you on that one."

"So why do you think I'm here?"

Nick avoided her eyes and looked to the floor. He knew that this question would come up eventually. Erin was putting on a good show bottling her emotions, but he knew deep down what was going to happen.

"You said that you witnessed my abduction … right?"

"Yes … I did. Why?"

"Did you get a good look at Harris? The man that was driving the other truck."

"Yes." She replied and then she came to realize that she could identify him. "Oh God … he's going to kill us. Isn't he?"

"I wish I could sugarcoat the answer for you, but unfortunately the answer is yes. Harris has told me in no uncertain terms that once he has the disk he will kill me and I imagine that he will do the same with you."

This time it was Nick who squeezed Erin's hand. Nick had faced death before and come out on top. He would not give up until he breathed his last breath. He looked over to Erin he could see the look of fear welling up in her eyes. He felt horrible. Here she was doing something good by reporting a crime and now she was going to die from it. Life just wasn't fair.

"I'm really sorry that you got involved in all this Erin." He said regrettably.

She nodded unable to answer. She was still trying to face the inevitable that she was going to die soon. It took her a few minutes to compose herself. She leaned her head back against the wall as she heard the jingling at the door.

Erin moved closer to Nick and asked, "Are you scared?"

The door opened to reveal four men who walked into the room.

"Yes I am."

* * *

So what did you think? I hoped you all liked it. I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out. As usualall reviews are appreciated. Thanks! 


	22. Chapter 22

Hi everyone,

I'm so sorry it took so long for this chapter and I have my excuses all line up. Well here they go: 1- The dog ate my homework. 2 - There was a blizzard and I had to walk uphill both ways to school. 3 - My computer crashed. 4 - Did I happen to mention that the dog ate my homework. 5- I went and got a dogsoit could eat my homework.

OK so maybe all that homework stuff was not believable since I have been out of school for ... I don't have enough fingers and toes to use, but anyway I really have been sick and it's hard to get motivated when you are down and out. I hope the chapter was worth the wait.

Tefla - Thanks for your help and suggestions. I really appreciate it.

Enjoy!

* * *

The news had come as a surprise, but the evidence didn't lie. Though the evidence they had was circumstantial at best. They still had enough to warrant an interrogation of Carl Stenson.

The CSIs had gone back to the break room with the officer. Believe it or not, when the door to that room was closed, it was the only place where the walls didn't talk.

The collection of documents still lay on the table and each CSI waited for Grissom to start.

"OK. Before we go after Carl let's see what else we have. Most of this evidence is circumstantial." He looked around the table expectantly.

Warrick glanced down at his fingerprint results. "Well before everyone ran out of here I was going to say that I found a print at Nick's place that matched Carl."

"How come you didn't mention that earlier?" Catherine asked.

"Catherine, if you recall, you were giving the results of the hair analysis. I was waiting for my turn. It's called professional courtesy."

"Warrick I don't give a damn about professional courtesy." She retorted.

"Catherine, Warrick that's enough." Grissom interrupted. The entomologist sighed before continuing, " I know we are all on the edge here, but we aren't going to accomplish anything if we are at each other's throats. Warrick where did you find his fingerprint?"

Warrick glanced over to Catherine who had sat back in her chair, but kept her defensive posture.

"I found his print on the underside of a flipped over table in Nick's living room."

"Well that's an odd place for his fingerprints to be. Don't you think?" Sara said to break the tension in the room.

Grissom glanced to the rest of his team before responding. "Yes. It is odd. Why would Carl's fingerprint be there? Especially since Warrick has already confirmed that Carl has never been over to Nick's place before."

Warrick smiled, "The prints are fresh … say within the last twenty-four hours."

"OK. I say that gives us more than enough to get him in here." Grissom looked over to the officer who had managed to melt into the background. "We need Carl Stenson brought in for questioning."

The officer sat forward in his seat to look Grissom straight in the eye, "I understand the importance of what you're asking, but I need to follow procedures. I need to get the order from Captain Brass."

"I understand. I'll get Brass on the phone then. Thanks for your help." Grissom replied.

The officer got up from the table and left the break room. He closed the door as he walked out. Grissom pulled out his phone and dialed Brass's number. The break room was quiet. The only sound was a drip coming from the sink in the corner.

Grissom listened as the phone rang and waited for the experienced Homicide Detective to answer. He faced the windows and was able to look out into the hallway to see the Lab staff hustling back and forth. No sooner had Grissom hit the 'send' button then Brass walked by the window as he grabbed his cell phone. He stopped in the hallway right in front of the windows to answer it.

"Brass."

"Hey Jim … it's Grissom. Turn to your left."

Brass did as he was instructed and found five CSIs staring at him. Grissom waved him into the room. The detective smiled and shook his head as he hung up his phone. He turned around and walked over to the break room.

"I'm sorry. I haven't been by to see you guys yet. It's been a busy night. Have you found anything on Nicky?" Brass asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a seat at the table.

"Well actually that's what I was calling you about."

"Oh yea … what's up?"

"Carl Stenson."

"Carl Stenson … he works in the ballistics lab. What about him?"

"We believe that he was in on Nick's abduction as well as our witness, Erin Matthews' disappearance."

"Show me what you got."

Grissom showed him the hair analysis, fingerprints and told him about the tattoo.

"Sounds like enough to bring him in for interrogation. You said he is working tonight … right?"

"Yes … he is." Grissom said with a smirk.

"Well he is convenient … isn't he?"

"That he is."

Brass got up from his seat. He had only returned back to work at the beginning of the week. Make no qualms about it though he still wasn't one hundred percent, but being the man he was … he returned to work early. He was still required to go to physical therapy. Also, along with Nick, he went to see the counselor. He had been affected just as much as Nick, if not more. Brass felt that he should have done more and placed the guilt of those three people dying upon his shoulders. No matter what anyone said to him, he couldn't change that feeling. With time the feeling would eventually bury itself, but he knew at anytime it could emerge.

* * *

Nick could feel Erin's grip tighten in his hand when the four men entered their cell. He tried to comfort her the best he could, but he had a feeling the only way she would be comforted was to be far away from this place.

One man held his weapon at the prisoners while one grabbed Erin and pulled her off the cot. She struggled with her captor only to receive a slap in the face. Nick saw what happened and tried to grab for her, but with one arm cuffed to the cot he could only reach.

"Leave her alone!"

Nick received a punch to his face for his outburst, which caused Erin to scream out. One man pushed Nick back to the wall and pulled his weapon from his holster and held it close to his face. Nick sat still, he didn't want to endanger Erin anymore than she already was. He just watched as the last man uncuffed him from the cot.

His freedom was short lived as he was yanked up from the cot. He winced and sucked in a breathe from the violent movement on his ribs. He repeated the action as his hands were cuffed behind his back. He tried to glance over to Erin to give her an encouraging look, but was unable to facing the direction he was. He heard a grunt and the cot squeak. It was obvious that they had thrown Erin back down on the cot.

Erin sat upright fairly quickly and tried to get another glance at Nick. She didn't know if this was going to be the last time she saw him or not. Erin hoped that she would. Nick told her that they were going to be killed. In a way she wished he had sugarcoated the truth, but in reality the truth was always best. She just didn't want to die alone.

"Where are you taking him?" she asked in barely a whisper.

None of the men heard her as they grabbed the roughed up CSI by both arms and pulled him from the room. Nick was able to spare her one last glance before the door closed behind him.

Erin brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. She had tried to put on a brave front. At least when Nick was there with her she felt somewhat safe, somewhat protected. Now that he was gone she no longer had that feeling. She looked up at the camera and just watched as the red light went on and off.

Erin let out a loud sigh that turned into a sob. She turned her head away from the camera and could feel herself starting to cry. For some reason she felt that this was private and they had no rights to watch her emotional outburst. After all, it was their fault that she was there in the first place.

She remembered, before Nick had been taken away, that she had asked him if he was scared and he said yes. She tried to focus on that. Nick was scared too, but he was putting up a brave front so she had to as well. She wiped the tears from her eyes and lay down on the cot. She fell asleep within minutes.

The hallway was familiar to him, but unfortunately he could only remember one-half of the trip. He was led back into the room where he was brought before and forced into the same chair. Nick scanned the room and the gun that Harris had used now sat on the table just to his left. He could suddenly feel the gun once again pressed against his forehead.

The pain in his leg brought him out of the memory. His guards weren't exactly easy on him. The bullet wound, up until that point, had stopped bleeding, but he could now feel the blood trickle down his leg. He glanced down at the makeshift bandage only to see it seeping with blood. He silently cursed to himself. He could only hope that Erin would be able to stop the bleeding.

He glanced over to door when he heard voices. He was not looking forward to the meeting. The last time he didn't come out of it too well. As Harris entered the room, Nick could feel his heart racing. The CSI tried to hide the reaction, but Harris merely chuckled in delight.

Nick could feel himself under close scrutiny from his captor. Harris reached down and grabbed Nick's chin. He moved his head from one side to another admiring his work. Nick jerked his head back, but regretted that action soon after when he felt his ribs protest. Harris smiled at Nick's reaction.

"Just admiring my work Mr. Stokes." Harris said as he moved away from Nick.

"Yea well you can admire from over there." Nick replied back.

Harris shot Nick a look, "Careful Mr. Stokes. I have no problem putting another bullet in you."

Nick just remained silent and watched as Harris dragged a chair over next to Nick and sat down. This made Nick squirm. He did not want to be anywhere near this man. He leaned towards the opposite side, trying to create some space between him and the other man.

"Why Mr. Stokes, do I make you uncomfortable?"

Nick resisted the urge to throw out a comment but he thought it instead. _'Um … yeah. I just love sitting next to the man that wants to kill me … idiot.'_

Instead he answered, "Just trying to get comfortable. This isn't exactly the best chair I ever sat on."

"Well that's the whole part of this Mr. Stokes. The chairs aren't supposed to be comfortable."

"I kinda got that part, but thanks for clarifying it."

"So Mr. Stokes are you ready to make a phone call?"

"You know what? Let's cut it with the 'Mr. Stokes' business. Just call me Nick. After all, anyone who shoots me should be on a first-name basis."

"Well I'm afraid that we strive by formality here Mr. Stokes."

Nick didn't want Harris to know how much it bugged him to be constantly called 'Mr. Stokes'. Sure it was his last name, but he was always reminded of his father when people called him that. It took him a long time to get out of his father's limelight. That was the main reason he came to Vegas.

Harris could see the wheels in Nick's mind working, "Do we have a problem Mr. Stokes?"

"No we don't _Mr. Harris_." Nick answered back with a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

He watched as Harris pulled out his phone and dialed Grissom's number. He wondered if Grissom had found anything on that CD. He knew his time was running out and had to try and convey that message to Grissom somehow. The other CSIs were under the impression that Nick was going to be set free when Harris had the CD in hand. He wished that were true, but Nick knew better. His only hope was Grissom … just like the last time.

Grissom had a large part in figuring out where Nick was. All it took was hundred of his closest friends and the bug doctor went to work. Unfortunately Nick wasn't sure how Grissom was going to find him this time. Then it came to him … Carl Stenson. He would try to tell Grissom about Carl somehow.

* * *

As the CSIs left the break room they all went in different directions. Warrick and Sara headed over to security to see if they could find any security footage from the parking lot. Catherine went to see what she could dig up on Carl Stenson. Greg went to the locker room to change his coffee-stained clothes. After that he was to go to the A/V Lab and get status on the CD.

Grissom and Brass were also on their way to the A/V lab.

Brass had suggested that Grissom have a trace put on his phone. Why Grissom hadn't thought of that made him wonder. This whole case was getting to him. He was losing his edge and he didn't like it one bit. One mistake on his part could cost two people their lives.

The two men walked the long halls of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. They had worked together for a long time and knew each other's style. Grissom would let Brass take the lead on this interrogation, but he would chime in when he deemed it necessary. Both of them knew how important this little talk was with Carl. More than likely Carl knew where both Nick and Erin Matthews were. If they played their cards right hopefully they could get both of them back before it was too late. If not, they would rely on the phone trace to find them. That is if they were on the phone long enough for a trace.

Grissom turned the corner into the A/V Lab with Brass on his trail. He had left the young Asian man Archie Johnson working on the CD. Archie, the resident technical guru, sat hypnotized in front of his computer. Grissom could see that he was working on decrypting the disk.

"Archie … I need you to set up a trace on my phone." Grissom said as he walked into the room with his phone in his hand. "I'm going to be getting a call from Nick's kidnappers soon and I want to see if we can trace the call."

Archie turned around to see both Grissom and Brass standing behind him, "Sure it will only take a minute." He replied taking the phone.

Both men walked up to the computer screen to see if they could understand anything on it, but all they saw was gibberish.

"So how's the CD coming along?" Grissom asked.

"Very slow, but I think I'm almost got it. There were a lot of algorithms so it made it more of a challenge. "

"That's good news. Let me know as soon as you get something."

"You will be the first person I call … so any new leads on Nick?"

"We do have a lead and we will be bringing him in for questioning."

Archie had just finished setting up the trace when Grissom's phone rang. The A/V tech just about dropped the phone in surprise, but managed to catch it before it fell to the floor.

Grissom took the phone from the young man and answered it, "Grissom."

* * *

OK I know that you are all about to send hate mail. First she makes us wait so long and then she leaves the chapter like this. AHH! Well all I can say is that it's still the illness. I'm all stuffy and it's cutting off oxygen to my brain. Well not really (tee hee). Please send those awesome reviews. Thanks and see you next chapter.


	23. Chapter 23

Hello everyone,

Here I am again still sick sniffs then coughs darn colds. AH! Thanks for all of the well wishes and the reviews and the being kind to me for not updating for so long (yes Tefla I know a run on sentence - tee hee). Hope you enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

Grissom answered the phone and turned away from both Brass and Archie. He could feel their penetrating stares on his back and turned around to face them. 

"Grissom."

"Gil … it's Conrad. I'm just calling for a status report."

Grissom was relieved that it was Conrad, but he would never admit that out loud. It only meant that Archie had more time to break the encryption and they could still interrogate Carl.

"Conrad …" Grissom could see the look of relief in Brass's eyes as well. They had a small reprieve. "No we haven't heard from them yet. In fact I thought it may have been them calling."

"Sorry. Why don't you call me on my cell from a different phone. I need to know what's going on. The sheriff is going to start asking questions soon and I want to have some answers."

"I understand Conrad. I'll call you back in five."

The CSI hung up his cell phone just as Greg entered the room. He stopped abruptly when he saw both Brass and Grissom in the room with Archie. A look of confusion briefly flickered in Greg's eyes, but it soon disappeared.

"Did I miss something? Weren't you two on your way over to interrogation?"

Brass and Grissom looked at each other with a smile. It was Grissom who replied to the younger CSI, "No you didn't miss anything Greg. Jim suggested that I put a trace on my phone. So when they call about Nick we can hopefully trace it."

"Oh."

"I'm going to go over to my office and call Ecklie back. If you find anything, and I mean anything come and get me."

"You got it."

Grissom looked past Greg and over to Brass, "Jim are you coming?"

The detective walked up to Grissom and stopped a few feet short, "I was thinking that while you call Ecklie, I'll go and get Carl and bring him down to interrogation. Once you are done with Ecklie you can meet me in there."

"Good idea. I'll meet you there in about five minutes."

Grissom turned and headed to his small, crowded office. When people walked into Gil Grissom's office they were usually freaked out, but the more you knew Grissom the less freaked out you were. This was who he was. He took comfort in the insects around him. They didn't talk back and they didn't have to be handled a certain way.

The right side of his office was covered with pictures and shadowy boxes containing some beautifully displayed butterflies. The left hand side of his office contained bookshelves from floor to ceiling, all filled with various sorts of books. Anything from various entomology books to Shakespeare. If anything … Gil Grissom was certainly a well-rounded person.

His desk sat in the middle of the office. At the moment it looked like someone had driven a forklift in and dumped piles and piles of paper on top of it. He inwardly sighed to himself. Grissom sat down behind the big mound of paper and attempted to look for the phone that was now buried. After a brief minute or two he finally found it. It took him another minute or so to locate Ecklie's number. That was one number that he didn't memorize on purpose. He tried to avoid Ecklie at all costs. Though it did seem like Ecklie was getting a little better with things. Perhaps he would give Ecklie another chance. Suddenly a picture of Nick flashed in his head … he hoped that he would get a second chance as well.

He picked up the phone and dialed the director's phone number. Ecklie answered in one ring.

"Ecklie."

"Conrad, it's Gil."

"Thanks for getting back to me. So … can you tell me where we stand? Have you heard from Nick's captors yet?"

Grissom leaned back in his chair to get comfortable, "Well right now we are going to be bringing in Carl Stenson for questioning. We think he had something to do with Nick's kidnapping."

"Carl Stenson from ballistics? How on earth did you come up with this one Gil?"

"We found both DNA and print evidence that he was in Nick's house … plus he was also the last one seen with the witness before she disappeared." He grimaced after saying that last sentence. He knew that once Ecklie heard that a witness was lost, he would go ballistic.

"What? … You lost a witness! How in the hell did that happen? You better have a good explanation for this Gil."

"The witness was left with an officer during one of our meetings. During that time Carl Stenson spilled coffee on the officer. The officer left for only a minute or so. At that time we think Carl either forced or tricked her to go to the parking lot with him."

"Gil, why wasn't I notified of this earlier?"

"Conrad it happened less than an hour ago. I just haven't had the chance to call you."

"The proper procedure …"

Grissom interrupted Ecklie, "Look Conrad I'm sorry if your ego got hurt. But I have two people missing and I'm more concerned about finding them than I am about your feelings right now. If you are still interested I can finish telling you what we have."

"Fine. Please continue."

"As I was saying we found both DNA and prints matching to Carl Stenson. We also found out that Carl has the same 'pit bull' tattoo as the killer. Greg did some digging up and only one small group of marines has that tattoo. We think Carl is working with the man that grabbed Nick _and_ who also killed Dustin Schultz."

"The Dustin Schultz case is closed Gil … remember? Warrick killed Dustin Schultz's murderer."

"No Conrad … he didn't. When I spoke with Nick earlier he said that with the _'supposed killer'_ dead … they never looked at the disk."

"And?"

"Conrad he said with the _'supposed killer dead' _he was telling me that he was with the real killer."

"That's a long shot Gil. You don't have any evidence to support that. Do you?"

"Yes I do. After speaking with Nick I came back to the lab and looked at the autopsy pictures from the killer. The 'pit bull tattoo' was on his left arm. When I read Nick's statement he told us that it was on the right arm. So Dustin Schultz's killer is still alive and he has both Nick and Erin Matthews."

"Gil, how could you miss something this important?"

The words stung when Grissom heard them. He knew he was having problems with this case and now Ecklie knew as well. He wasn't at his best and Nick was going to suffer for it. He tried to come up with one of his famous quotations, but nothing came to mind except admitting the truth.

"I don't know Conrad. What I do know is that Nick is in danger because of me."

There was silence on the other side. Grissom knew what was going through Ecklie's mind. Should he keep him on the case or not? He knew that if he were in Ecklie's position that he would pull the him off the case.

"Look I'm expecting a call from Nick's captor's they want the disk that we have. Archie Johnson is currently trying to decrypt it. He says that he's close. Brass is going to pull in Carl for an interrogation. Just give me four more hours before you pull me from this case."

"How'd you know?"

"Honestly … because I would to the exact same thing, but all I'm asking is four more hours. Then I will recluse myself from the case providing we haven't come up with more conclusive evidence."

Once again silence plagued the phone then Grissom heard a long sigh, "OK Gil, four hours. But as you said, if you come up with more conclusive evidence then I won't pull you. _But _… I expect to be notified as soon as you hear or find out anything. Understood."

"Completely. Thanks Conrad."

"Don't mention and don't make me regret it."

"Conrad, when have I ever made you regret anything?"

"You don't want me to honestly answer that do you?"

Grissom thought about it for a minute, "No I guess not. I'm going to head over to interrogation to see what's going on with Carl. I will call you when we are finished."

"Talk to you then."

The CSI hung up the phone and raced out of his office and over to the interrogation room.

* * *

When Jim Brass left Grissom, he made his way down the long corridor and into the ballistics lab. Carl Stenson was crouched over a microscope comparing two bullets. The ballistics technician looked up with a smile at the homicide detective. 

"Captain Brass what brings you in here? I don't believe I'm working on anything for you at the moment."

Brass didn't smile back at the ballistics technician. What he wanted to do would put him behind bars. The two officers that he called before he stepped into the lab had finally arrived and found their way into the small room. The three unexpected guests caught Carl by surprise.

The detective could see the sudden onslaught of nervousness in Carl's eyes. "So Carl, something tells me that the Las Vegas Crime Lab isn't your only employer. Would you like to elaborate on that?"

Carl took two steps back but remained silent. Now he knew how Nick must have felt when he was cornered. The jig was up. He had been so careful. How did they find out it was him? Well … he was trained to handle interrogation. There would be no way that he was going to break.

"Ah … the silent type. My favorite." Brass said with a smirk. "Carl if you would please come with us. Now remember I said please."

The cornered man only hesitated for a moment before he allowed the officers to escort him out of the ballistics lab.

As Brass watched the officers escort the suspect out of the room he was relieved that they didn't have problems. This room was the ballistics lab. It had both guns and bullets and everyone knows that when you put the two together it can be deadly. He was glad that Carl hadn't put up a fight. He took one more calming breath before following the three men into the interrogation room.

The two officers pushed Carl down into a chair just as Brass walked into the interrogation room.

"What's this about Captain Brass? Do I need a lawyer? Are you questioning me on a current case?" Carl flooded the detective with questions. He wanted to see if Brass would buy into the innocent act.

Brass sized up the man in front of him. If Greg's research was correct than the man in front of him was trained for this type of thing. So no matter what he did or say he wasn't sure if he was going to get any cooperation. He was just about to start the questioning when he heard a knock at the window. He knew Grissom was on his way. So when the door opened, and Grissom came in and sat down, he wasn't surprised.

Grissom had left his office after he spoke with Ecklie and headed right to interrogation. He hoped that he didn't miss anything. He walked up to the window and looked in to see Carl sitting across the table from Brass. There were two officers standing in front of the door. Grissom knocked on the window to announce his presence. He then walked in and sat down next to Brass.

He looked over to Brass expectantly. He knew that he didn't have to say anything and that Brass would know what Grissom was asking.

"We were just getting started."

"Oh good … then I didn't miss anything."

Carl looked over at Grissom and still played the innocent victim, "Grissom what's going on here? Captain Brass just came into the lab and brought me here. He didn't say what this was about. Is this concerning one of your cases? Did you need my help?"

Grissom observed the man in front of him, "Yes Carl. This is concerning one of my cases and I do need your help."

"Sure what do you need?"

"Information."

"Information …what kind of information?"

"I would like to know why we found your fingerprints and hair at Nick's place." He looked at Carl expectantly.

The suspect smiled, "Well that's obvious isn't it?"

"No it isn't. Why don't you enlighten us?" Brass suggested.

"Nick and I are friends. It's only natural that my prints are at his house. I've been over there a few times to watch a game or two and have a beer."

"Is that so?" Grissom responded.

"Yea … that's so."

"Well then Carl if you have been over to Nick's house a few times, why is it that we only found one of your prints there and not more? I mean if you were so close to Nick and have been over there a few times I would imagine that your prints would be everywhere. For instance the refrigerator door perhaps or maybe a coffee table. Care to elaborate?"

"Hey man I can't explain it. Maybe Nick cleans real good. I don't know."

"Well I'm going to tell you what I know." Brass said. "Your print was found underneath one of Nick's overturned end tables. Interesting place for a fingerprint, don't you think?"

Carl remained silent.

It was Grissom's turn to speak back up, "Well Carl, upon inspecting the table, the only way the fingerprint could get there was if you were to flip over that table."

"Now let me guess: you dropped the remote control and in looking under the table you accidentally flipped it over right?" Brass said sarcastically waiting for an answer.

"Wait a minute. You don't actually think I had anything to do with Nick's kidnapping?"

"That's exactly what we were thinking Carl." Brass retorted.

"Man … you've got it all wrong." _'I should win an Emmy,'_ he said to himself.

"Look Carl, you can cut the crap. We know about your military background and that you have had extensive training in interrogation."

Carl for once was shocked. How did these men know about his military background? It was supposed to be classified.

"That's supposed to be classified."

"Well it is. Thanks for confirming it for us." Brass said with a triumphant smirk.

The phone on Grissom's belt began to ring he picked it up and looked at the caller display it read 'Blocked'. He looked over to Brass, stood up and left the room.

Carl could tell by the look on Grissom face that Harris had just called him. He would be expecting a call from Harris once he was finished speaking with Grissom.

* * *

Nick watched as Harris put the phone to his ear. It was his hope that he would be given a chance to speak with Grissom even if it was only a minute or two. He was still trying to figure out what he was going to say and then it came to him. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Harris speak. 

"I trust you have the disk in your possession."

Grissom walked into the hallway and went straight to the A/V lab. As soon as he walked in both occupants turned to face him.

"It's him. Start the trace."

Archie got up and ran over to the computer and hit a few keys. "OK … you are good to go."

Grissom flipped his phone up and placed it to his ear, "Grissom."

"I trust you have the disk in your possession."

"Yes I do. I also trust that Nick is still alive as you said."

"Oh yes Mr. Grissom. Mr. Stokes is doing rather well." Harris replied as he grabbed Nick's bandaged leg.

"Ahhh!"

Grissom could hear the man mocking Nick in the phone, "Oops sorry Nick, didn't mean to do that. I bet that hurt."

Grissom finally found his voice, "Hey … leave him alone!"

"What's that Mr. Grissom?"

"You heard me leave him along. I have what you want." Grissom looked over to Archie to see if they had enough for a trace. Archie shook his head no. "But before I say anything more about it I want to talk to Nick."

"Need I remind you Mr. Grissom that you are in no position to make demands."

"Look all I want to do is talk to Nick to find out if he's alright. After that I will leave the disk wherever you want it."

"I'm usually the one that's making the demands Mr. Grissom. I will make an acceptation this one time since you have what I want and I have what you want."

Nick watched the one-sided exchange and it sounded like Harris was going to allow him to speak with Grissom. He tried to hold back his emotion. He was afraid that if Harris saw how much he wanted to speak with Grissom he might not allow him to.

Harris turned and faced Nick. He grabbed him by the hair again and forced the CSI to look him straight in the face. Nick wished he'd stop doing that.

"Now Mr. Stokes you will be ever so careful with what you say or it may be your last conversation ever. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes."

Grissom heard ever word that the man had said to Nick. It made him cringe that Nick was in the hands of this madman. He waited for Nick to come on.

Harris placed the phone to Nick's ear. Nick looked at Harris for permission to start talking he got it with a nod.

"Grissom you there?"

"Nick, are you OK?"

"Not really Griss."

"What did he do to you?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes Nick it matters. We found a lot of blood at your house."

"They shot me in the leg, but Erin was able to patch it up."

"Erin … Erin Matthews?"

"Yes. Look Grissom I just wanted to say that I'm sorry if I ever disappointed you.

"Nick … why are you saying that." Then the realization hit him. "He's going to kill you as soon as he gets the disk."

"Yes."

* * *

Well there you go. I hoped you liked it. Please review and see you next chapter. 


	24. Chapter 24

Hi everyone...thanks for the reviews. They were great. Tefla thanks again for the whole beta thing. Enjoy!

* * *

Grissom tried to remain calm after Nick's brief answer. 'Yes' was all he answered. It was all he could say. 

"Nick we are doing everything we can to find you and Erin just hold on. We are getting close."

Nick closed his eyes in relief, Grissom was getting close to finding them. He only hoped that he would find them alive and not dead. He was about to reply when Harris pulled the phone from him.

"Now Mr. Grissom you spoke to Mr. Stokes and now you know he's safe at the moment."

"Thank you."

"For what Mr. Grissom?"

"For allowing me to talk to Nick. You didn't have to do that."

"You're right. I didn't have to, but let's just say that in doing that it brings me closer to getting that disk back."

Grissom looked again at Archie to see if they had anything yet. The young technician shook his head with regret. He closed his eyes. He knew he would not be able to keep this man on the line for much longer.

"Where do you want me to drop off the disk?"

"There's a warehouse on 7th and Las Vegas Blvd. Just inside the warehouse there will be a metal box on a table. Place the disk in that box then leave. If I see any cops around … Mr. Stokes here is a dead man." He hit Nick again in the leg, which caused Nick to scream out. "I trust this is enough incentive for you."

Grissom heard Nick scream out again. He was not a violent man, but he balled he fist up in anger and swore if anything happened to Nick this man would regret it. He bottled up his emotions before speaking again.

"What time?"

"Now is as good as anytime."

"When will Nick and Erin be released?" Grissom already knew the answer to that question. They wouldn't be released. They would be killed. This man planned to execute them after he received the disk.

"They will be released once I verify that the data on the disk is correct."

"Where will they be released?"

Harris smiled at Grissom's persistence. He was having fun leading him on. He knew that once that he had that disk he was going to kill both Stokes and the girl. In fact he really didn't need to keep them alive now, but he still wanted to have a little more fun at their expense.

"We are getting a little ahead of our selves Mr. Grissom. Once I have the disk in hand only then will they be released. I will drop them somewhere."

Grissom tried to push back the images that popped in his head, but he was finding it difficult. He knew this guy was playing him, thanks to Nick. When he said that he was going to drop them off, he meant their bodies. He could feel a nervous chill flow up his spine and he tried to shake it off. Instead of feeling better … he felt worse. He could feel the impending doom that was upon them.

"I expect you to keep your side of the bargain." Grissom said, not believing the words he spoke.

"Of course." Harris said in a mocking voice.

Nick listened again to the one-way conversation. He was glad that Grissom had gotten the hint he left without Harris even knowing about it. Harris thought he was being smart, but he had no idea who he was dealing with. Nick knew with all his heart that his team would find both him and Erin. He had to believe that. If he believed it then it would come true.

He had given up once before and almost ended his life. His friends had found him before he pulled the trigger. Unfortunately this time he wasn't the one making the decisions. He knew he was in serious trouble.

"Once I have confirmed that the disk is genuine my two guests will be released." He smirked at Nick when he said that.

Nick just gave Harris a look of disgust and loathing. Normally he tried to find the good in everyone and took great pride that he was a people person. However, there was nothing good about this man in front of him. Wait … he was wrong he was good at one thing – killing.

He was tempted to just scream out to Grissom. He was frustrated, angry, scared and just wanted to go home. _'His home,'_ he thought, was trashed and now probably a crime scene. Harris and his men were responsible. _'Damn them!'_ He decided not to scream out since Grissom already knew how dire his situation was and there was no logical reason to. He knew that if he did he would regret it. He still remembered the words that Harris had spoken to him if he didn't cooperate. He would kill him right there and then.

"Remember Mr. Grissom … no police or I will send Mr. Stokes back to you in pieces. I will give you an hour." Harris hung up the phone with an evil glint in his eye. He looked over to Nick who was now visibly squirming under Harris's glare.

Grissom looked over at Archie when he hung up the phone. The hope that there had been a long enough period used to allow the trace to work had bloomed in the entomologist. However, a look of disappointment stared back at him and at that point he knew the trace didn't work.

He silently cursed to himself again. If only he would have kept Harris on line a little longer. But this guy was a professional and most likely knew that they would probably be trying to trace the call. Grissom stood there for moment then a thought came to mind.

"Archie, I know I wasn't on the phone long enough for you to trace the call. But were you able to get anything at all?"

"The closest I can get you is within five miles from the tower." He walked over to a map and pointed at the tower.

Grissom looked at the map silently wishing Nick's location would jump out at him. He walked over to Greg.

"Greg, I want you to pull up everything within a five miles radius of that tower. See if anything stands out."

"What exactly am I looking for?"

"Houses, buildings … anything. Archie were you able to get anything at all on that disk?"

The A/V tech looked over at Grissom and smiled, " I was just about to call you when you walked in."

The little statement had Grissom intrigued and he inched closer to Archie who had now taken a seat in front of a computer.

Archie took Grissom's silence as a queue to continue, "I was finally able to break the encryption and I found a few interesting things. The first, a number of Swiss bank accounts under the name of Robert Harris. Then I found a list of dummy corporations and all illegal activities under those so-called corporations. The illegal activities are anywhere from money laundering to drugs. The last item seemed a bit off though considering the first couple of things"

"What did you find?"

"I found a copy of a new game."

"What kind of game?"

"For the casino. The only thing is it has the Biston International logo on it. If I were a betting man I would say that someone stole this copy from Biston and planned on using it themselves."

Grissom listened intently to what Archie had told him, "Yea I guess we are going to have to figure out who would benefit from this. This explains a lot. Now I know why they are so adamant about getting the disk back. It holds all of their vital information. Archie, have you made a copy of this disk yet?"

Archie smiled and help up another disk, "I already have."

"I need the original."

Archie took the disk out of the drive and handed it to Grissom.

"Good work Archie … really good work."

With that said he left the room. He looked at the disk and placed it in the inside pocket of his coat.

* * *

Brass watched as Grissom left the room to answer his phone. What he really wanted to do was go with him instead of staying with Carl, but he knew he had a job to do. 

He looked at Carl and gave him a small smile.

"Now where were we?"

Carl just stared at Brass with detestation. How did this man find out about his military background?

Brass's smirk got even larger when he could see that they had one-upped Carl.

"Let's see … oh yes we were talking about your military career. Would you care to tell us a little bit about that?"

"That's classified Captain Brass. You would need security clearance to get that information. I'm sorry." Carl took great pride in that answer. Legally his military career was classified and if he talked about it he could be shot. It wasn't that he was afraid of dying … he had been in harm's way many times.

"I understand … as I have been in the military once myself." Brass responded.

Carl had a retort on the tip of his tongue when there was a knock at the door. Warrick peeked his head in and called Brass out to the hallway.

Brass looked back over to Carl, "I'll be back in a minute. Don't go anywhere."

His comment was met with a glare.

The detective made his way out to the hall were both Warrick and Sara stood waiting for him.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yea. Erin's abduction was all on video. I'm not sure why the guards didn't catch it when it happened, but we placed Carl in the vicinity and he even talked to the men that had grabbed Erin." Sara said with a venomous tone, looking through the window at Carl.

"OK. Good work."

"Where's Grissom?" Warrick asked.

"I'm right here."

The group turned around to see Grissom walking up the hallway. Brass didn't give him a chance before he was hitting him with a question.

"Well did they call?"

This question took both Sara and Warrick by surprise and both looked from Brass to Grissom waiting for an answer. They could tell by Grissom's demeanor that they had called.

"Yea. They called."

"And?" Warrick piped in.

"They want the disk in an hour over on 7th & Las Vegas Boulevard."

"Isn't that the old abandoned warehouse?" Sara asked.

"Yep the one and the same. They want me to put in a box on a table just inside the main door. Then they said that they would release Nick and Erin."

"Well that's good." Sara said.

"No. It's not."

"It's not…why?"

"They are going to kill them anyway."

"What are you serious?" Warrick asked with concern. "How do you know?"

Grissom looked at his watch to see what time it was. He knew his CSIs needed an explanation of what was going on he just needed to make sure he had enough time to get over to the warehouse.

"It was something that Nick said."

"You talked to Nick? How is he? Is he OK?" Sara asked suddenly.

"Yes I spoke with Nick, he's not doing to good. They shot him in the leg, but Erin was able to patch him up."

"Those bastards!" Warrick screamed gaining the attention of the personnel in the hallway.

"Easy Warrick … we have to keep our heads." Brass said. "Now Gil what did Nicky say to get you to believe that they are going to kill him?"

Grissom looked down to the floor, up to this point he never thought it was necessary to discuss Nick's recording while he was buried alive. He had spoken to Nick about it at great lengths. So the two men had a clear understanding. Grissom made sure that Nick knew he wasn't disappointed in him.

"He said I'm sorry if I ever disappointed you."

The three people standing in front of Grissom had confused looks.

"And you got that Nick was going to be killed from him saying that?" Brass inquired.

"That's not all. Look back when Nick was buried alive. He left a recording … remember?"

The three of them nodded and he continued.

"Well what you don't know is that during that recording he had said to me that he was sorry if he ever disappointed me. He recorded that message because he thought he was going to die. After he was rescued and came back to work I talked to him at great lengths about that recording and what he had said. He _knows_ that I have never been disappointed in him. So when he said that I was surprised, but then it came to me and I asked him if they were going to kill him when they got the disk and he said one word – yes."

Warrick, Sara and Brass just stood there … shell-shocked. They always knew there was the possibility Nick would be killed, but they tried to push that to the back of their minds. Now that Grissom had laid it out for them it made it all the more real. Grissom would be leaving shortly to deliver that disk and shortly after that Nick would be dead.

"There's got to be something we can do?" Sara said.

"Carl knows where Nick is."

"But will he talk." Warrick asked.

"I'm thinking no. He's ex-military and he's trained in this sort of thing."

"So where does that leave us?" Sara asked.

"With a whole lot of nothing." Warrick added.

"I disagree." A voice said behind the group.

Sara, Grissom and Brass turned to face the voice while Warrick just looked over Brass. Greg stood there with a smile plastered on his face.

"Care to share."

"It would be my pleasure. You know how you asked me to look within the five mile radius of that cell tower?" Grissom nodded. "Well I pulled up a number of businesses and the one that stood out to me was Capral Enterprises."

"Capral Enterprises? Wasn't that where Dustin Schultz worked?" Warrick asked.

"Yep … now we, meaning Archie and me, went a step further. After the encryption was broken on the disk we found that there was a diagram of a prototype for a new game. Well that prototype belongs to Biston International."

"Yes I already know that Greg."

"Well did you know that Capral Enterprises is Biston Internationals main competitor?"

Grissom stared silently at Greg's smiling face, "No I didn't know that."

"And a more interesting tidbit of information Capral Enterprises isn't doing to well. Their stocks have plummeted."

"Good work Greg."

"I'm not finished."

"By all means please continue." Grissom remarked.

"Thanks. I will. Now since we have Capral Enterprises coming up twice here. I pulled up the employee listing and guess who works at Capral Enterprises?"

"Robert Harris." Grissom replied.

"Bingo."

Sara and Warrick looked at Grissom, "Whose Robert Harris?" they both asked simultaneously.

Grissom smiled for the first time that night. He had a feeling he knew where Nick was.

"Robert Harris's name popped up on that disk. He's the owner of some rather large Swiss bank accounts … good job Greg."

Greg was beaming, "My pleasure."

Grissom looked over to Brass. "I think I know where Nick is – Capral Enterprises."

* * *

There you have it Chapter 24. Please review and let me know your thoughts. Thanks! 


	25. Chapter 25

Yes...here's an update FINALLY! I'm really sorry, there's a lot of stuff going on right now and it's hard to get motivated, plus I still haven't gotten over this darn bug. AHH!

Well here's the next chapter. I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks for all the great reviews they are wonderful and keep me going even when I don't feel like and thanks to Tefla once again. Enjoy!

* * *

Catherine sighed and leaned back in her chair. So far she had come up with a big fat zero on Carl Stenson. Oh … he was in the system, but she had not been able to find a single dark mark on his record. 

He had been honorably discharged from the military back in 2003. She couldn't get any more information on his military background because it was classified. From the information that Greg was able to pull up he was a marine, and a good one at that.

She sat there contemplating her next move. She chewed on her bottom lip as a thought entered her head. Catherine sat up in her chair, pulled out her cell phone and dialed.

She listened as the phone rang and when she heard the voice on the other end, she spoke.

"Agent Culpepper please."

* * *

"So what makes you think that Nick is at Capral Enterprises?" Brass questioned Grissom while the others looked on. 

"Jim … it's too much of a coincidence. I'd risk my life on it."

Grissom looked at his watch again. He had another forty minutes before he had to be over at the warehouse. "Jim, you really need to get over there. Nick is in that building somewhere and they are going to kill him as soon as they get this disk."

Brass took in a deep breath and looked into Grissom's eyes. He'd known this man for many years and learned that he could trust Gil Grissom's intuition. He was usually right, but in this case, it could cost Nick his life if he wasn't. He looked once more at the man in front of him then slowly agreed.

"OK Gil. I believe you, but we are going to need a little more to get into that building legally."

"… And we are going to have to do it in less than forty minutes." Warrick added.

Grissom was happy to see that Brass had agreed to all this, but there was still the road block of legally getting into that building. He turned his head towards the interrogation room.

"I think our answer is sitting right there."

The group all turned towards the window to look at Carl who now leaned back in the chair, looking as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Brass and Grissom looked at each other … silently giving the other the encouragement to go in the room and get what information they needed. The others just stood at the window watching in anticipation.

As the door to the interrogation room opened Carl looked over and spoke.

"I don't appreciate being kept waiting."

"Yea, well I don't feel too bad about that." Brass retorted while taking a seat in front of Carl.

Carl eyed the aging detective with great care. Both men had come back into the room acting different, almost as if something had changed. They must have found more information. He wondered what they had. He was sure he would find out soon enough. He waited for them to start.

"I'm going to cut to the chase here." Grissom started.

Carl turned his attention from the detective to Grissom.

"Where's Nick?"

"Like I said before … I don't know."

"I don't believe you." Grissom responded back.

Carl laughed, "Well believe what you will, but it's the truth."

"Robert Harris." Brass blurted out.

Carl turned his head quickly towards the detective with a look of shock on his face, but he quickly recovered.

"Who Captain Brass?"

Brass smirked. He had seen the look on Carl's face when he had mentioned Robert Harris's name. It was obvious that he knew this man.

"Cut the crap Carl. I just saw the look on your face in just mentioning that name. Now the question is … who is Robert Harris to you?"

Carl sat there brooding at the detective. He was angry with himself for being caught in a lie. Up to this point he had them in the palm of his hand. He would have to try and recover.

"I'm sorry Captain I don't know what you are talking about."

Grissom was about to ask another question when a knock came at the door and it slowly opened. Catherine walked in with a folder feeling the tension in the air. She knew how important it was to get the information from Carl. She hoped the information she was bringing Brass and Gil would aid in that.

Catherine handed the folder to Grissom who opened and read it then looked at her with a hint of a smile. She took that as a firm yes that the information she supplied could help Grissom. She gave Carl a look of disgust as she walked out and closed the door behind her.

Grissom could see Carl's eyes following the folder and he handed it to Brass to read.

"What's the matter Carl? Nervous?" Grissom asked his curiosity peeked.

"I don't know what you are talking about. I'm just fine."

"Yes I suppose you are."

Another glance at his watch told him he had thirty-five minutes to go before the drop-off. He looked back up at Carl when he heard a cell phone ring. The look on Carl's face showed that he was the guilty one. He was brought in for questioning and not under arrest, so he was allowed his cell phone.

The look of trepidation on Carl's face spoke volumes and Brass knew that this was the break they were looking for. This call had to be from Harris … checking up on things.

"You might want to get that." Brass commented.

Carl grabbed his cell phone and answered it all he while looking at Brass and Grissom. "Yea."

"This is Harris. You want to give me an update."

"I can't at the moment."

"Why not?"

"I'm not in a good position to speak at the moment."

"Have you been compromised?"

"Yes."

"Then you are on your own. If you were stupid enough to get caught then I don't need you anymore. You make sure you keep your mouth shut or I will shut it for you … permanently."

"Wh-what? Wait!" He screamed into the phone, but all he heard was a dial tone.

Brass and Grissom watched the exchange with interest. They knew the call was from Harris and from this side of the conversation it didn't sound good.

"Bad news," Brass asked with a smirk.

"You could say that."

Carl was surprised that Harris would disregard him so fast after everything they had been through. He told himself that as long as Harris had his back then he wouldn't let the man down. Harris had just fed him to the wolves and dropped him like a rock. He started to weigh his options. They had physical evidence linking him to Nick's house. Would it be in his best interest now to cooperate since Harris just ditched him?

Brass and Grissom watched the man in front of them weighing his options.

Grissom decided to ask again, "Where's Nick?"

Carl heard the question, but was still uncertain as to how to answer. So far he had been eluding their questions. He took a deep breath then jumped in with both feet.

"If I help you what do I get in return?"

Brass and Grissom glanced over to each other this was an interesting turn of events.

Brass spoke first, "Well that all depends on what you plan on sharing with us."

Carl looked down at his hands and then back up at the two men sitting before him.

"How about the location of Nick?"

* * *

Nick listened intently to the rest of Grissom and Harris's conversation. He knew that Harris had some plans for him and that made him anxious. He kept thinking back to how he got himself in this mess: wrong place, wrong time. Then again, that was the story of his life. No matter how much longer it was going to be. 

'_Time'_ he thought. He put off a lot of things cause he always thought that he had plenty of time. Now he wasn't quite so sure. He knew that Grissom was aware of his situation, but how would they find him? If he knew Grissom, the gang already had a plan. They would come through … they just had to.

Before Nick knew it the conversation between the two men was over and Harris was staring intently at him.

Nick could no longer stand the silence, "Can I help you with something?"

Harris smiled at Nick's remark, "You will be beyond any help soon Mr. Stokes. Your Mr. Grissom is under the impression that you are going to be released alive. Boy will he be surprised."

"Oh yea. I'm sure he will be … but I have a feeling that you are going to be the one getting the surprise."

"And why's that Mr. Stokes?"

"You are underestimating him. Even if you kill me … he _will_ find you. I guarantee that."

"Brave words Mr. Stokes."

"I'm just telling you the truth. No matter what happens … you will go down."

"I'd be more worried about myself right now Mr. Stokes. I'm not worried about your Mr. Grissom. I am a professional and I take great pride in that. I have never been caught and I never will be caught. Unlike some people, I take care of my loose ends."

"So I'm one of your loose ends huh?"

"Yes. You are."

"And Erin?"

"Also another loose end. Both of you witnessed crimes committed by my men and myself. In order for me to continue … you both need to be eliminated."

Nick wasn't surprised at the words. Harris had already told him in no unconditional terms that he was going to be killed. He just didn't know when the time was coming. He just knew it was soon. His thoughts turned to the young woman that had been dragged into this whole mess. His heart was heavy because he felt responsible for her involvement.

He hoped that if they both had to die that it was going to be fast with no suffering. He knew suffering when he had been buried alive. He did not want to repeat that experience. He stopped himself from the morbid thoughts. He had to think positive. _'Yeah I'm positive I'm going to be killed'_ he joked with himself. He wished that he could be with Erin. She needed to be with someone. She was extremely scared and needed the support. He wondered if he would see her before the end. '_Stop it Nick. They are going to find you.'_

"Face it Mr. Stokes. You are in an impossible situation. It amazes me that you think there's the possibility that you will get out of here alive."

Nick looked around the room at the men guarding him then back to Harris, "So where's your lackey Carl?"

"Oh yes … Carl. He's back at the lab keeping an eye out on your friends. I do need to get status from him."

Harris glanced at his watch as he walked over to the door, "I'll be right back. I have something to take care of. Keep an eye on him." He said to the guards as he walked out.

Nick felt his anxiety level go down a few levels. He knew that if Harris wasn't in the room he was safe for the moment. But where did he go? He suddenly got a lump in the back of his throat and worried for Erin.

_Erin had watched as the men dragged Nick out of their cell. She had put on a brave face then, but she could no longer hold that façade. When Nick was here she was able to get the strength from him, but now she only had herself._

The figure on the cot suddenly jerked awake and sucked in a huge breath of air. Erin glanced around, remembering suddenly where she was before she wrapped her arms around her raised knees. Her gaze was locked on the door, wishing for it to open and for Nick to be alright. The reason behind this was she was trying to divert her thoughts.

She couldn't think of anything else except dying. She wasn't ready. It wasn't fair. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time … just like Nick. Now she was going to die. Erin let out a soft sob when she heard the keys at the door of her cell.

She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. She hoped that they were bringing Nick back and she didn't want to upset him by showing she had been crying. Erin watched intently as the door opened. Her hopes quickly faded. Nick was not at the door. Only a single man stood there.

She didn't know his name. She only knew him as the guy that had kidnapped Nick from the street. He looked more menacing in person than he did in the dark, but wasn't it always that way. Erin grew uncomfortable as the man stared at her.

* * *

Harris left the room where he held Nick and headed towards the room where his other prisoner was still locked up. He smirked to himself. It was time to have some fun with his two prisoners. He had a feeling the girl was going to be more fun than Stokes. 

He pulled the keys from his belt and walked up to the door. He made sure to make a lot of noise. Harris knew that that noise would add to the intimidation of the moment.

The door unlocked and swung open. He could tell that she had been crying. _'Oh yes. This is going to be fun'_ he thought to himself. He looked at his watch. He still had fifty minutes before the disk pickup. There was still plenty of time to mess with his captives … before he killed them.

* * *

Erin stared at the man who entered the small room. She jumped when he spoke. 

"Are you enjoying your accommodations Miss Matthews?"

She kept silent … afraid to answer. The man in front of her was a murderer and a kidnapper. As of yesterday, Erin knew these types of people only from the news. Now she was going to be part of the news and another statistic.

"Too afraid to speak. You should be." He inched closer to the cot she sat on.

Erin tried to make herself smaller if that was possible by pressing against the wall. It didn't help.

Harris moved closer and closer to the cot. He had no intention of attacking her, but she didn't know that. He could use that against her. He finally stood over her and then sat down on the cot … next to his frightened captive.

Erin stifled a gasp when he sat down on the cot. She moved away from him and to the other side of the cot hoping that he would keep his distance.

He snickered at her poor attempt to move away. He quickly made up the space between them and before Erin knew it … he was right next to her once again.

Harris leaned into her and smelled her hair. She was now making no effort to hide the tears that were starting to fall. This only lit his fire. He swiftly grabbed a handful of her hair causing her to scream in surprise. She grabbed his wrists trying to pry her hair loose, but failed.

He continued to smell her hair when he whispered in her ear, "Would you like to join Mr. Stokes?"

She was unsure of how to answer that question. Was Nick dead already or was he still alive?

Harris could see the uncertainty in her eyes and decided to aid her in her decision. "Don't worry Miss Matthews. Mr. Stokes is very much alive at the current moment. So I ask again … would you like to join Mr. Stokes?"

She nodded her head yes.

He let go of her hair and jumped off of the cot. He grabbed Erin's arm, in a bruising grip, and pulled her from the room.

* * *

Well there you have it. I hoped you liked it. Please let me know by clicking that review button. Thanks! 


	26. Chapter 26

I know...I know..It's about time. Well I did have to make you guys want more..right? Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews. They are appreciated and thanks to Tefla who helped me with the chapter...you rock! Enjoy!

* * *

Utter fear. That was the only thing that Erin could feel. She was currently being dragged through unending cement corridors. She hoped she was being taken to Nick and not to her death. She looked over at her captor and shivered. He had a look of glee on his face. It was that look alone that sent her level of panic through the roof. 

The grip that had been established on her arm refused to budge, even after she relentlessly tried to free it. All she had earned in return for her struggling was a sharp jerk to her arm which almost sent her stumbling each time she tried to pull away. Finally getting the subtle message that was being given to her, Erin stopped her struggles and let Harris pull her along.

It had given Harris a minor thrill each time that she tried to pull away. In retaliation for her attempts he had quickly jerked the arm that he held while continuing to move forward. If the woman had stopped at all, she would have been pulled off her feet. Luckily for her this had not occurred yet, but secretly Harris was wanting to see his captive fall. After moment or two, a grin crept onto his face. Apparently she had learned her lesson. The tension that he had been feeling for the last few minutes of the journey suddenly disappeared.

Breaking the silence that had surrounded them since he had pulled her out of the room, Harris spoke.

"I see that you have finally decided to calm down. That may be the wisest move you have made yet Miss Matthews. Although, the wisest decision you could have made ... was to never have stumbled across my path in the first place. People have a tendency to just ... well disappear while they are in my care."

As Harris was speaking, he turned another corner before eying the door to the room where he had left the CSI. As he approached the room with Erin in tow, he stopped just out of sight of the doorway and smirked at the woman. The next moment he tightly grasped her arm with both hands and began applying pressure to the joint of her wrist. The pressure increased as he watched for any reaction. A simple pain-filled cry was what he was hoping Erin would give him. It would make Stokes squirm to know that she was being hurt and that there was nothing he could do about it.

At first Erin was silent as she caught the meaning in the words that had been spoken to her. _'People tend to die in other words.'_ was the thought that ran through her mind. After realizing that all motion had stopped, she glanced up to see an open doorway on her right. All relevant thoughts after that seemed to vanish instantly as the pressure on her arm and wrist increased to painful proportions.

Glancing into Harris's face, Erin tried pulling her wrist free again. Nothing came of the attempt, except for more pain. She bit her lower lip in an attempt to stifle the words that sat on the tip of her tongue, but as the pressure increased once again, she could not remain silent any longer. A mild scream echoed down the halls as Erin gave into the tactics being employed against her.

The pressure on her wrist eased as her scream died off and she gave Harris a reproachful look before finally tugging her arm free. Almost immediately she cradled her wrist against her chest and tried to ignore the throbbing sensation that remained instead of fading away. This mere fact indicated to Erin that she may have sustained an internal injury instead of just a superficial one. She did not have much time to dwell on the fact as she was roughly ushered into the room.

* * *

When Harris had left the room, Nick glanced around to the men guarding him before fidgeting in his chair. His worry for Erin increased as the minutes ticked by. The CSI wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it seemed like an eternity had gone by. The silence of the room was shattered then by a pain-filled cry and Nick's blood ran cold. Just as he was about to leap up from the chair, he felt two sets of hands pushing him back down … the combined pressure keeping him seated. 

'_Oh god. Please don't let that have been Erin.'_

However, his investigative side told him that it most likely was. He struggled: both physically and mentally. Physically he knew he had to get free to help Erin, but he didn't know how to accomplish that. He battled with his emotions. He wondered what Harris was doing to her. A few things came to mind, but the main one that lingered was – rape.

He tried once again to get up from his seat. This time, however, he received a crack to the head with the butt of a gun. He saw a flash of white. When his vision cleared he could see the smug look of Harris standing in the doorway with a scared Erin. Almost immediately Nick tried to find anything that might prove his theory of what had caused the cry he had heard. The only outward sign that something was wrong, besides the fear in Erin's eyes, was the way she gently cradled her wrist alongside her chest.

"Erin are you alright?" Nick blurted out.

"She's just fine Mr. Stokes." Harris said as he pushed her into the room while the guards dragged another chair next to Nick.

Nick looked over to Erin who just stared at the floor. He silently wished that she would look up at him so he could tell if she was all right. As she was pushed in the direction of the chair he looked her over once again to make sure none of her clothes were ripped. They weren't, but that still didn't mean anything.

The scraping of the chair across the floor brought Nick's attention back to the room. He glared at Harris as he shoved Erin into one of the guards who pushed her into the chair and tied her to it. She gave a soft cry when the rope was pulled tight around her injured wrist. Nick now knew she was injured in some way. He leaned over to look around the guard that had been tying her up and noticed a bruise forming around her right wrist.

He could feel the anger burning inside and rising in him by the minute. Nick knew this man was vicious and cruel, but for some reason he hoped that Harris would have left Erin alone. Nick knew first hand what it was like to be on the receiving end of Harris's cruelty. Fortunately for some of it he was unconscious, but it still didn't make him feel any better.

The guards moved away from Erin and took their positions again behind both captives. Erin still stared down at the ground while Nick stared at her. He tried again to get her to talk.

Harris stood back and watched as the guards bound his other captive to the chair. He glanced over at the CSI and couldn't help but smile. He could see the lookin Stokes' eyes. It was a look of frustration, but not the look of a man who was broken. He was going to have to work on that. He knew for a fact that this young lady was going to aid in his attempts.

"Erin, are you alright? Talk to me." Nick pleaded.

Erin swallowed before she answered quietly, "I'm fine."

Nick once again looked up at Harris, "What did you do to her?"

"That's none of your concern Mr. Stokes. What you should be worrying about is what am I going to do to you next."

Nick remained silent.

"What … no witty remarks Mr. Stokes?"

"Go to hell."

"Well that remains to be seen doesn't it."

Harris reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "You get a small reprieve Mr. Stokes, but don't worry I won't forget about you."

Erin looked up at Harris then over to Nick. The CSI was still staring angrily at Harris. She watched the scene before tugging gently at the rope binding her to the chair. A flash of pain briefly reflected in her eyes before she returned to watching Nick … unsure of what was going to happen.

"Yea well don't do me any favors," Nick mumbled.

"Don't worry. I don't plan on it. Now if you will excuse me for a moment I have a rather important call to make."

Nick couldn't hold back the retort on the tip of his tongue, "Please don't let us stop you."

Harris gave Nick a fierce look before returning his attention to his cell phone. He dialed the numbers and the phone to started to ring.

His anticipation grew when he heard, 'Yea.' on the other end.

"This is Harris. You want to give me an update."

"I can't at the moment."

He grew concerned at that sentence. Normally Carl would have gotten himself into a secluded area to talk.

"Why not?"

"I'm not in a good position to speak at the moment."

Harris could feel his anger starting to rise. He was one person you didn't want mad at you. He took a couple of calming breaths before asking the next question. He already knew the answer. He just had to confirm it.

"Have you been compromised?"

"Yes."

He silently cursed to himself. These CSIs were smarter than he gave them credit for, but that was Carl's problem not his. Carl knew the stakes and he accepted them.

"Then you are on your own. If you were stupid enough to get caught then I don't need you anymore. You make sure you keep your mouth shut or I will shut it for you … permanently." And he slammed his phone shut.

The two captives quickly glanced at each other as Harris hung up the phone. They could see the anger radiating from his eyes and watched as he paced back and forth. He stopped abruptly and cast an irate look at Nick. The CSI knew he was in trouble with that look. He already had taken a beating and he wasn't sure how much longer he would last. He knew Erin was sitting next to him and his intent was to remain brave for her even if he wasn't exactly feeling it. To be honest he was scared to death.

Harris took three quick steps over to Nick and grabbed a handful of hair. The suddenness of the action surprised Nick and he gasped. He could hear a startled cry from Erin as well.

"This is all your fault!" Harris spat.

Nick grimaced in pain as his head was pulled forward and up to face the angry man. He could feel his ribs scraping together, but he kept the pain bottled up. He didn't know what to say to Harris's statement. Well actually he did but he kept it to himself. He figured if he kept his mouth shut he would live longer … he hoped.

"If it weren't for you … we wouldn't be here." Harris added.

Despite the pain the CSI was in … he smirked. It was worth the risk and so Nick decided to open his mouth anyway, "Grissom's getting close I take it."

The CSI watched his captor's eyes when he said that. The reaction that Harris gave told him everything he knew. More then likely, Grissom and the rest of the team had found out about Carl. It seemed that the lab tech wouldn't be providing any more reports for Harris. At least that was what Nick had surmised by the one-sided conversation he heard.

Harris's silence was all Nick needed to continue, "I told you Grissom would find you. As I said earlier … you underestimate him."

Harris gripped Nick's hair tighter as he was now face to face with him, "Your Mr. Grissom hasn't found you yet. I guarantee you when he does there won't be enough of you left to identify."

Erin cowered in her chair at that statement. What was this man planning? She was so scared, but she tried to act brave. Nick was her strength and every time he looked at her he gave her the strength to last another minute without completely falling apart. She had been close a couple of times, but she managed to pull herself together.

The constant ache in her wrist reminded her of the injury she received from this man. You would never hear her complain about it though. Nick had it much worse. The man had been both shot and beaten to a pulp and he never complained.

"Yea well you are still going to go down. No matter what you do to us." Nick replied back.

Harris had heard enough from this man. He pulled back his arm and punched the CSI squarely in the face. Harris hadn't even realized how hard he had punched Nick until he noticed that the CSI had fallen off of the chair and onto the floor. He listened for the startled cries coming from the woman. He reveled in it. The guards picked the handcuffed man up off the floor and forced him back in the chair.

He looked down at the CSI and noticed a trail of blood ran down from the right side of his mouth. He could see Stokes gasping in pain from his broken ribs. Harris knew that if the man wasn't handcuffed that his arms would be around his ribs at this moment. As it stood they were cuffed behind him. This fact alone excited Harris. He grabbed the CSI's vest this time and punched him repeatedly.

Nick didn't know how much longer he was going to stay conscious. He still wasn't fully recovered from his last beating and his ribs were killing him. He tried to block out Erin's cries as he was punched repeatedly. He knew that her cries were egging Harris on. The sick individual fed off of negative emotions. That's what gave him his power.

Nick could feel the blackness slowly surrounding him. It was abruptly pulled away when he felt cold water being thrown into his face. He quickly opened his eyes as the water was expelled from the area surrounding his mouth. Harris was once again face to face with him.

"Don't you dare pass out on me Mr. Stokes. I'm not close to being done with you." Harris said with contempt as he swung a few more times at the nearly unconscious man.

Nick just sat limply in the chair. He could feel the hands of the guards on his shoulders. They were obviously keeping him from falling from the chair. After a few more punches Harris finally stopped. The CSI could barely see out of his right eye. It was beginning to swell, impairing his vision. He let out a small sigh to show his relief that the beating had stopped. His concern grew though when he heard what Harris said next.

"Well Mr. Stokes, you handled that beating pretty well. Let's see how well Miss Matthews handles a punch. I myself think she will only last for a few - How about Mr. Stokes are you a betting man?"

Erin could feel the tears welling up in her eyes when she heard Harris speak those words. She had never in her life ever been hit before. Even as a child she was never punished with spankings.

The statement that Harris had just made got Nick's attention. He sat up straight in his chair. "You leave her alone you son of a bitch. If you still need a punching bag then you use me. Leave her out of this."

Erin was shocked by Nick's words. This man didn't know her until today, but yet he was willing to take a beating for her. She chanced a quick glance over in Nick's direction before looking away. She wanted to say something to the CSI, but she couldn't find the words necessary to express her gratitude that he'd try to save her from something like this.

Harris knew that that statement would light a fire in Stokes. He said it on purpose. There was no fun in beating someone when they gave up or no longer fought back. He saw the spark return in the man's eyes. _'Oh yes…there's more fun to come.'_ he said to himself.

"You surprise me Mr. Stokes. Why would you be willing to take a beating for a woman you don't even know?'

"That's none of your business."

Erin watched the exchange between the two men and wondered the same as Harris. Nick didn't know her. Why would he do that?

"Let's just say I'm making it my business."

Nick remained silent.

Harris smirked at the CSI and moved closer to Erin.

"Stay away from her!"

"You are in no position to make demands Mr. Stokes. Now tell me why."

Nick looked over at Erin then at Harris. He knew that he was going to be forced into talking. He drew a deep breath before releasing it. His voice sounded hollow as he answered Harris's query.

"It's my fault she's here and I feel responsible for her."

Erin drew in a sharp breath at these words. She had tried earlier to persuade Nick that it had not been his fault, obviously her words had not been enough to sway the CSI's thoughts.

"Well that's very touching Mr. Stokes. Yes it is your fault that she's here and it will also be your fault when she dies."

Harris once again looked at his watch, "Ah … aren't you the lucky ones? I still have some time to play before I go to my meeting. Hmm … what shall we do next?"

* * *

Well there it is the long awaited chapter. I hoped you liked it. Please click on that review button and let me know. Thanks! 


	27. Chapter 27

Hi everyone...OK I know it's a miracle I updated sooner than four days. What can I say? Thanks for all of the reviews and another special thanks to Tefla...now enjoy!

* * *

Only moments ago the man that sat in front of them had the look of defiance on his face. Now after an unfortunate phone call the only look he had was the look of survival. Carl knew he was in big trouble, but he figured since Harris kicked him to the curb it was only fitting that he returned the favor. 

Carl took a sip of water from the cup that rested in front of him and looked from Brass and then to Grissom. He was positive that he had shocked them with him offering up Nick's location. He wondered what they were prepared to offer him in return. The two men had left the room for a short time to discuss their options and returned only moments ago.

He waited for them to start. He had literally placed the ball in their court. He was willing to play … but were they?

As Brass entered the interrogation room he could still feel a tinge of pain coming from his shoulder. He knew that it would take some time to fully recover, but those were the breaks in his profession. His attention left his shoulder only to focus on the man that they had been questioning for the last few minutes. Carl Stenson was involved in Nick's disappearance and had just offered up information on it.

He cleared his throat before speaking, "Well Carl normally we don't work this way, but we feel these are extraordinary circumstances. We usually get our information before cutting a deal, but in this case we are prepared to offer you a reduced sentence."

Jim watched as Carl shifted in his seat at those words. "So far we have you in aiding the abduction of Erin Matthews. We have video that shows of your involvement. Now you have also admitted in knowing where Nick is and we have your DNA and fingerprints at Nick's house. So we can only conclude that you were part of his abduction as well. That's two counts of kidnapping Carl. We can get the sentenced reduced if you cooperate and that's it.

Brass looked over to Grissom who sat just to his left. He noticed that the CSI looked at his watch again and started to fidget. They were running out of time.

"Come on Carl we don't have time to sit around. Where's Nick?" Brass asked again.

Carl squirmed in his seat he wasn't sure if this was the deal he wanted, but he wanted revenge on his former commander for just leaving him. There was a pact in the military never leave a man behind and that was exactly what Harris did to him.

He swallowed before he answered, "I accept your terms."

Grissom stood up anticipating the answer.

"Both Nick and Erin Matthews are at Capral Enterprises in the basement."

"How many men?"

"I would say about eight in total including Harris."

"What should we expect?"

"They have automatic weapons. I can't tell you anymore because I'm usually here. I don't know if Harris has rigged anything or not."

Grissom and Brass shared a look. It seemed that Carl only knew the basics and that Harris hadn't been as forthcoming to him as they had hoped.

"Thanks Carl." Grissom said.

For some reason those two words seemed to make Carl angry. "I didn't do this for you Grissom and I sure as heck didn't do it for Nick. I did it to help myself and only myself."

"Yea … well thanks again anyway."

Catherine, Warrick, Greg and Sara watched as Brass and Grissom went back into the interrogation room. When they came out only moments ago Carl had offered them the location of Nick, but he had wanted a deal. Brass wasn't authorized to give a deal and had to go up his chain of command. When the Captain returned he gave a thumbs up to the group and both he and Grissom went back in.

The CSIs watched Carl's reaction to the deal that was offered. They hadn't been told what the deal was, but they hoped it was enough for Carl to spill the location of Nick and Erin. They could tell by Grissom's body language that they had gotten what they wanted and within a few minutes both Grissom and Brass rushed through the door and down the hallway.

The group ran after them and the first thing Catherine heard was, "Dispatch this is Captain Brass. I need a SWAT team and a bomb squad over at Capral Enterprises. Make sure that they run silent and do not go into the building until notified by me."

"10-4."

Catherine finally spoke up, "Guys you want to let us know what's going on? Did Carl give you Nick's location?"

Grissom stopped so fast that Greg crashed into him. The youngest CSI stepped back and mumbled an apology.

"I'm sorry, but we are running out of time. Carl said that both Nick and Erin are being held in the basement at Capral Enterprises."

"So what's the plan?" Warrick asked.

"The plan is we are going to continue with the meet."

"What? Grissom why should you do that if we know Nick's location?" Sara asked.

"We want to divide and conquer."

The CSIs looked at each other. It seemed that both Brass and Grissom had thought the whole thing through and had come up with a plan.

"OK. So you are going to go and meet with Harris. Then what?" Greg asked.

"I will have a team with me at the Harris meet while Jim brings both the bomb squad and SWAT team with him. I'm hoping that we can hit the two simultaneously."

"And if we don't?"

"Let's think positive."

"I gotta go. I'm meeting Harris in twenty minutes and we need time to set things up."

"What about us?" Catherine asked.

"You guys are coming with me." Brass responded.

The team seemed to be good with that response. Grissom turned and started to walk in the opposite direction of the group.

"Gil." Catherine called out.

He turned around to face her, "Yea Catherine."

"Be careful out there and don't take any unnecessary chances."

"I will and the same goes for the rest of you." He turned back around and continued walking until they could no longer see him.

The four CSIs turned to face Brass who smirked at the group, "Let's get moving. I'm not sure how much longer Nick has."

They all understood what Brass meant by that and no one said a word. They all nodded in agreement and followed Brass out to the parking lot listening to him bark orders into his radio.

* * *

Nick swallowed. The last time Harris had talked about playing games it was followed by a short round of Russian Roulette. He quickly glanced over at Erin to make sure she was all right. So far she was keeping it together, but for how much longer. Nick hoped that Harris had something else in mind. He wasn't sure if he would make it through another round of that game. 

"So what will it be Mr. Stokes?" Harris asked as he clapped his hands together.

Nick remained silent. Like before he wasn't going to be a willing participant in this game. The only thing that he'd be a willing participant of was getting the hell out of this situation.

"Ah pleading the fifth I see. Well that's all right I have something sinister planned."

Nick silently laughed to himself _'Sinister, please this guy must think he's in some cheesy scary movie' _

"I know that earlier you enjoyed our little game, now let's see if Miss Matthews enjoys it as well."

Erin's head popped up and she looked over to Nick with questioning eyes. Nick hadn't had a chance to tell her what game it was that Harris had subjected him to.

"But don't worry Miss Matthews, Mr. Stokes will be playing as well." He picked up the gun he used earlier. "In fact. since Mr. Stokes is an expert at this game … he will go first."

Nick squirmed in his seat as he watched Harris once again open the chamber of the gun he held and gave the cylinder one big spin before closing it. Nick looked over to Erin who started to shake her head no.

"Move her across from Mr. Stokes."

"No please … don't do this." Erin pleaded.

"Please Miss Matthews you only encourage me." Harris laughed.

Erin let out a small sob as the guards dragged her occupied chair just across from Nick. She still shook her head no. She looked up at Nick who was trying to get her attention.

"It's going to be OK." He mouthed.

She understood his message, but some how she couldn't bring herself to believe it. Now she understood how brave Nick really was. He had already gone through this once and now he was being subjected to it again. After all that he was still trying to comfort her.

Erin watched Harris walked over to Nick with the gun and a look of sheer joy on his face.

"Please stop." She said again.

Harris placed the gun to Nick's head. Nick looked at Erin for a brief moment before he closed his eyes waiting once again for the inevitable. He could feel his anxiety rising, but he tried to keep it at bay for Erin. She didn't need to see him fall apart. This was one of the hardest things he had to do. Deep down he was scared, really scared, but he bit the bullet and put on the brave face. He wasn't sure how much longer he would last before he fell apart.

Erin could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks as Harris put the gun to Nick's temple. She looked into his deep brown eyes for a split moment before he closed them. She held her breath and Harris slowly pulled the trigger … click.

Nick's eyes popped open and he once again and let out the breath he had been holding. The first thing he saw was the tear stained cheeks of Erin.

"Well congratulations Mr. Stokes you made it through round one. Let's see if Miss Matthews will be as lucky."

"Just leave her out of this Harris."

"What and have her miss out on all the fun?"

Nick's attention was drawn away from Harris and to another man who now stood in the doorway. This man was older with graying hair and a rough looking face. He was well dressed and from the look on his face he didn't look too happy with what was going on.

"What the hell is going on here Harris?" Jake Evers bellowed.

Harris turned around when he heard the voice, "Ah Mr. Evers I was wondering when you were going to join us."

"I asked you a question Harris. What the hell is going on here?" he repeated as he walked further into the room.

Harris smiled at Evers. He knew or rather he had counted on the CEO to come up and check on him. This was all part of his plan.

Nick watched as Harris who was still standing next to him reach for another gun that was tucked near his back. He knew what was going to happen.

He started to shout out, "Hey watch out." But was stopped with a crack to the head.

Erin was startled when she heard the voice behind her. She was facing Nick with her back to the door. So she couldn't see anything she could only listen. She recognized that Harris was up to something, but couldn't quite place it until Nick tried to scream out and was silenced with a crack to the head.

Evers was steaming now, "Answer me Harris, just what the hell do you think you are doing?"

Harris smiled as he brought his gun forward and pointed it at the unsuspecting CEO, "Have you ever heard of a hostile take over?" Evers eyes went wide with surprise and he tried to back peddle out of the room, but he was too late. Harris pulled the trigger and Evers flew back a few feet and fell to the floor … dead.

Nick gasped as Evers flew back and hit the floor. He could still see the look of shock on his face. The blood seeped from the bullet hole to the heart. The CSI was happy that Erin was facing him. As it stood she was trying to make herself small in her chair. She had her eyes closed and was shaking.

He took a shaky breath trying to put the murder out of his head. He had now witnessed two murders. All this death and for what? He looked up at Harris who was still on his high. That would give them a few more minutes. He glanced over at Erin who was now staring catatonically at the floor. Nick lifted his leg up and nudged Erin. She didn't move. He did it again and this time she looked up. The look in her eyes said it all. She was giving up. No matter how hard Nick tried it was just too much for her.

Erin could feel herself slipping away. She heard the gasp come from Nick and she knew that the man that had entered the room had just been murdered. She couldn't do it anymore she could no longer put up the façade. She felt Nick nudge at her leg, but she couldn't bring herself to look into those deep brown eyes that had seen way too much death. She felt another nudge, this time she looked up with the look of defeat.

She could hear the hard breathing coming from Harris. He was obviously still on his rush after killing the man. She felt bad for the man that just lost his life, but she was happy that she was getting a little reprieve before she had the gun to her head. Tears no longer threatened to escape for they had already fallen. She wondered if she could cry anymore.

The rush that Harris had felt started to fade he looked over to his men, "Get this body out of here."

One of the men that guarded Nick walked over to the body and dragged it out of the room. This left only one guard and Harris. Harris had the other men leave on a mission earlier.

Harris looked over to Nick with fury. The CSI had almost succeeded in warning the man. He grabbed the CSI's hair again and landed a few more punches.

"That Mr. Stokes … was for your interference."

Nick was taken by surprise when Harris grabbed him by the hair and started to punch. Why he was surprised he didn't know. He should have expected that. He just remained silent and took the beating.

Harris stopped after a few punches. He didn't want to get too carried away. After all he did want Stokes conscious for Miss Matthews turn at the game. He looked over at the girl who had remained quiet. He smiled when he saw her body language. Harris had seen that before. It was the body language of a person who had given up. He took two steps towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She jumped at the touch and this brought a smile to his face.

The CSI watched the look of amusement on Harris's face when Erin had flinched. Nick could feel his anger starting to well up inside him. There was no way he was going to allow Harris to hurt her.

Harris leaned down and spoke into Erin's ear, "So Miss Matthews are you ready for your turn?"

Erin started to sob openly again. The tears that she thought had left her now returned in full force.

"Harris don't." Nick said.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stokes, but it is Miss Matthews turn."

Harris opened the chamber of the gun gave it another spin and closed the cylinder. He looked at Nick as he placed the gun to Erin's temple.

Erin cringed as she felt the cold steel up against her temple. She found the strength too look up at Nick before she too closed her eyes.

Nick watched as Harris started to pull the trigger. He didn't hesitate and jumped out of his chair and went towards Harris. This surprised both his guard and Harris. He had just hit Harris as he heard a ... BANG!

* * *

Please don't hate me. (tee hee) I just couldn't resist. Please hit that review button and let me know what you think. Thanks! 


	28. Chapter 28

Hi everyone, Sorry it took a while, but between my lack of motivation and having problems with this site it took a little while to get this chapter posted. Thanks for all of the great reviews and another special thanks to Tefla for her help.

* * *

BANG! 

That was all Nick heard as he lay on the floor after connecting painfully with Harris. The force behind his motion had caused the CSI to bounce off of the man, but at the same time, Harris fell, and tipped the chair that Erin was bound to. With agonizing slowness Nick lifted his head and glanced over to see if Erin was alright. Already he was fighting down the nauseous feeling in his stomach. He knew that he had not imagined the gun discharging. A ripple of uncertainty passed through Nick as he turned his gaze onto that of Erin's form. She wasn't moving. A bright pool of red liquid had settled itself around the back of her head. It took a minute for Nick to actually comprehend the situation. A gasp then tore itself free from his body and broke the silence as a thought rocketed through his mind. _'She can't be dead.'_

Instinct told him that he had to get up and check her. He attempted to get up from his position on the floor, but found it difficult with his arms cuffed behind his back. The best he could do was sit up and even that was a struggle and all the while he kept looking over at the unconscious woman in front of him.

He heard a scream of rage come from Harris and before he knew it the man was kneeling in front of him and gripping his vest. Nick could see a pure venomous look in the man's eyes. He swallowed and waited for the assault to start. He looked away from Harris and back towards Erin. He glanced at her chest and could see it going up and down. He closed his eyes in relief. _'She's still alive.'_

He was roughly pulled up by the hair then fell back to the floor after receiving a ferocious blow to the ribs.

"Mr. Stokes you try my patience. You ruined my game!"

Nick remained silent on the floor staring up at Harris. He watched as Harris brought back his leg and prepared himself for the onslaught of kicks. The first kick was swift and struck him in his already broken ribs.

He grimaced in pain as he could feel the sweat rolling down his bruised face. The pain was excruciating and with kick after kick his eyes kept going back to Erin.

Harris could see Nick glancing at the girl, "She's dead Mr. Stokes or she will be soon. One problem solved … one more to go."

Nick again remained silent and glared at his captor. He was unsure how long he would be able to maintain his own grip on consciousness and that worried him. He knew that he'd seen Erin's chest move with the rhythm of breathing, but how serious was her wound? His attention was brought back to the issue at hand as another blow struck him.

Harris had held back with the beating so far, but Stokes' silence had pushed him to his limit. Putting a bullet in his head was just a little too quick and easy manner of death for the CSI. This man had to suffer.

Harris finally lost all control and kept kicking Nick. He grinned evilly. Stokes couldn't protect himself since he was still cuffed. Every kick and punch hit home.

He felt a touch on his shoulder and looked over at one of his men that stood there with the uncertainty of interrupting his commander's entertainment.

"Um sir … your meeting is in fifteen minutes."

Harris looked down at the now unconscious CSI, "Take them both back to their cell. Their time here has come to an end."

At that moment more men appeared in the room. All glanced down at the two unconscious bodies that lay on the floor without much reaction. Harris looked over at them expectantly.

"You were undetected?"

"Yes sir. We were able to set the charges without being detected."

"How long?"

"Twenty-five minutes from now sir."

"Good that will give us enough time to get the disk and get out of here."

The ropes that had held Miss Matthews to the chair were being cut as he spoke. He would have just left her in the chair, but his men did not feel like carrying extra weight. He glanced back down at the two prisoners as they were grabbed roughly and dragged from the room. It was a shame that he could not have ended their lives with his own hands, but he was sure that the surprise he'd left behind would finish the job. A smirk was etched on his face as he spoke. "Let's get out of here."

With that Harris and his men left.

* * *

The ride to Capral Enterprises was short and silent. Each person in the car thought of his or her own scenario that could possible take place. Each person was silently wondering if they were going to get there in time to save Nick and Erin. 

As directed every police car and emergency vehicle dispatched ran silent, which meant no sirens. They did not want to alert anyone to their presence until they were ready.

The initial plan was to get to the building and evacuate it by pulling the fire alarm. That way every person would be clear of the building just in case there were any explosives planted. Somehow Brass had a gut feeling that there were going to be explosives involved. The bomb squad commander had already instructed him that they were to remain out of the building until otherwise directed. That order had annoyed Brass to no end, but he knew he had to set an example to all of the patrol officers and to the CSIs that rode next to him. So he would wait it out.

The group finally arrived at the building from the outside it was a nice normal building. It was sunny and the sky was clear a typical day in Vegas, but inside he knew Nick was in danger.

The police were met by the chief of the fire department who walked into the building with one of his men to pull the fire alarm. The story was they had to test the fire alarm. If they shared the real reason they were there, there would a major panic and a lot of people could get hurt.

Brass and the four CSIs watched the interaction between the Fire Chief and the security guards in the building. He hoped that they wouldn't run into any problems evacuating the building. He saw the guards nod in agreement then watched as the Chief pulled the fire alarm. They could hear the alarm from where they stood and soon the lobby and outside were flooded with office workers.

"That's an awfully big building do you think they will be able to find any potential bombs?" Greg asked.

"They have special equipment to detect explosives and they are also bringing in special dogs that are trained to sniff out explosives. So between the two we should be good to go. With any luck they may just find Nick and Erin too."

Warrick listened silently to the detectives explanation and so far he wasn't too happy with the chain of events that were unfolding. He slowly started to pace back and forth. So far he had been on the sideline with all this. Nick was his friend and he had a responsibility to him. He couldn't let him down … no he wouldn't let him down.

"There's got to be something we can do!" he snapped.

The group looked over at the obviously stressed out Warrick, but Catherine was the first to speak up.

"Look Warrick, we are doing everything we can right now. We have to remember the safety of all those people in the building and not to mention the officers that are putting themselves on the line to clear that building. We are not going to chance anyone getting hurt because we go in half-cocked and looking for trouble. That wouldn't do anyone any good especially Nick and Erin and you wouldn't do us any good by going in there and getting yourself blown up."

Warrick stood there and listened to Catherine. Not even an hour earlier they were at each other's throats now she was trying to settle him down. He looked into her eyes and could tell she meant every word she said. He slowly nodded and turned away.

"They will be looking for Nick … right?" Sara questioned.

"I have informed both the Fire Department and the bomb squad that Nick and Erin are in the basement of the building. So my guess is that they will hit that area first. Don't worry they _will_ find them."

The CSI nodded her head and looked back at the action that was taking place in front of them. They all wished that Nick and Erin would walk out with the rest of the people that were exiting the building, but she knew they wouldn't.

* * *

Grissom could feel his anxiety level increase as he drove to the meeting point. He knew that he had loads of backup and he also knew that Harris would not leave that warehouse a free man if he had anything to do with it. 

The drive to the warehouse was a relatively short one, but to Grissom it felt like an eternity. It was now early morning and people were driving to work. Any normal day he would just be leaving to go home. Not to a meeting to save one of his guys. He sighed to himself. He hoped that the rest of the team could get to Nick before all hell broke loose.

He remembered what Carl had said. There may be explosives in the building. If Grissom were a guessing man he would have to say that Harris had planted some explosives. It was clear to Nick that he was a dead man and what could be a better way for Harris to cover up his mistake by blowing up a building.

He cringed at that thought. Nick had been buried alive only just recently. Grissom really hoped that history wouldn't repeat itself. Just as like last time they were doing everything they could to save both Erin and Nick.

He brought his truck to a stop just off to the side of the warehouse. He wouldn't give this guy a clear shot of him just yet. He was supposed to come alone and he laughed at that order. He knew Harris wouldn't be alone this could turn out to be anyone's game, but he was prepared to play.

Grissom slowly exited his truck and checked his pocket to make sure that the disk was still there. He started walking towards the warehouse entrance as he was instructed to do. The entomologist could feel the eyes of the SWAT team on his back. He knew they would protect him.

As a CSI he rarely at times was ever in the heat of danger. Sure there had been times when a suspect had never left a crime scene or came back to it … but that was part of his job. He had only had to use his gun once and once was enough. Sure he had to pull it out a few times, which rushed back another memory that Grissom had tried to forget. When it came down to it, Grissom would do what was necessary to get Nick back.

Grissom was shocked that this man – Harris had specifically gone to him for contact, but he was not surprised. Neither the Sheriff nor the Chief had access or even remotely understood what they did in the lab. Harris was going to regret underestimating him.

He finally made it to the door and slowly peered in waiting for some kind of trap to befall him, but when there wasn't he moved himself in farther. He waited until his eyes adjusted to the light. Though it was daytime outside it was actually dark inside the warehouse. The warehouse had been abandoned for years. All of the windows were boarded up causing the darkness that Grissom now stood in. After his eyes finally adjusted he noticed a table in the middle of the room with a metal box on top. It was just as Harris had said. According to Harris' instructions Grissom was to put the disk into the box and leave. He knew it wouldn't be that simple.

Grissom walked up to the table and did a casual once over again looking for any types of booby traps. He knew that this man was in the military and specialized in this sort of thing. Grissom may not have been in the military, but he was a trained forensic expert and could tell things in a room that the average person couldn't. He eyed the box and finally deemed it safe. He opened the lid, pulled the disk from his pocket placed it in the box and closed the lid.

He casually looked around the room one last time before exiting the building. He hoped he would spot the man that held Nick. He turned back around and headed towards the door with a loud sigh. Just as he was about the walk through the door he finally heard a voice.

"Stop right there Mr. Grissom."

Grissom jumped at the voice and silently scolded himself for being surprised. He had been expecting this. He put his arms up in surrender. He stayed where he was and didn't move for now he was going to let Harris think he had the upper hand.

"Harris I presume." He said with his back to the man.

"You assume correctly Mr. Grissom. Now please turn around keep your arms where they are."

Grissom did as he was instructed. He turned around and was finally able to see the man that had caused Nick all that pain and suffering. He tried to keep his face impassive. The man had a grin plastered on his face like he had won the lottery. When Grissom actually looked at the man he would never had thought that he was a killer. He looked like a typical executive, but an executive with the means to kill and he had the means in his hand at the moment. The weapon looked familiar then it came to him. It was Nick's gun and he could no longer hold the look of impassiveness.

* * *

Harris had watched the CSI from a darkened corner in the warehouse. He could tell by the CSI's mannerisms that he was no fool. He checked for traps as he walked in and at the table. He had to hand it to the guy he was cautious and with every right to be. Harris had no intention on killing this man because he wanted the famous Gil Grissom to suffer the loss of one of his CSIs. It was perfect that it wound up being Stokes. With his past history he knew this would cause the CSIs to suffer.

He observed Grissom as he placed the disk in the box and started to exit the warehouse. Harris figured this was a good time to show himself since Grissom's back was to him.

"Stop right there Mr. Grissom."

He watched as the CSI flinched. He was actually surprised by that. Did the CSI think he wouldn't show up to check the authenticity of the disk. The CSI raised his hands in surrender. _'Yep this guy was no fool.'_

He glanced around as the CSI spoke, "Harris I presume."

"You assume correctly Mr. Grissom. Now please turn around keep your arms where they are."

The CSI did as he was instructed. He couldn't help but grin. So far everything was going according to plan. He realized after a few moments that the look on the CSI's face had changed from impassive to anger. This intrigued him what had happened in such a short time to cause this change. He knew this man was angry about Stokes and then it came to him.

"I see you are admiring my new gun. I just came into it recently." Harris said with a smirk.

Grissom kept quiet afraid to speak the words that were on his mind.

"Now I see where Mr. Stokes get the silence from. I'm sure you two are really fun at parties."

Again Grissom didn't speak.

Harris went to the box and opened it. He looked like a kid in a candy store when he picked up that disk. He glanced up at Grissom who was still glued to the same place.

He bent down and pulled out a laptop and proceeded to turn it on and place the disk into the drive. The screen lit up and Harris knew he had the original disk. He was smiling from ear to ear. He pulled the disk out of the laptop and proceeded to put it in his pocket. The laptop found its way back into the bag that it came from.

Harris looked over once again at the CSI supervisor.

"Very good Mr. Grissom. You follow instructions well, but now I must take my leave of you."

Harris started walking backwards from Grissom expecting the CSI to pull something.

"Wait you haven't told me where Nick is."

"I know." Harris said with a evil smirk.

"I kept my side of the bargain now you keep yours." Grissom hollered.

"I don't ever play fair, that's how you come out on top. Now I'm sure you'll have a nice life after you have mourned the loss of your CSI. Goodbye Mr. Grissom."

"You're not going anywhere." Grissom said in an even tone.

Grissom was an avid lover of chess and if he were playing a game of it right now two words would come to mind _'Checkmate'_.

"Oh … I'm not. What makes you think that?"

Both men could hear the clicking of guns and Harris smiled. He had brought his men for back up and they were stationed around the warehouse. As the men came into view Harris realized they weren't his men, but police officers. He could feel the anger welling up inside of him. This was not supposed to have happened and he could hear the words of Nick in his head not to underestimate Grissom.

It was finally Grissom's turn to smirk, "Sorry your friends aren't going to join the party."

Harris was once again fueled by his anger and made a run at Grissom, but he never made it to the CSI before he was tackled, disarmed and handcuffed by four SWAT team members. He struggled with the four men even though he was still handcuffed, but after a few minutes he knew getting away was hopeless. The four officers escorted Harris to the door with Grissom following.

The sharp light from the sun blinded Grissom momentarily as his gaze locked with that of Robert Harris. The expression that the soldier was wearing was that of not only malevolence, but also of hatred … all directed at him. As Harris was escorted past the entomologist Grissom could only watch as the man resisted any forward movement.

As if knowing that Grissom's gaze was upon him, Harris stopped all motion before sneering at the older man. With a calm movement, Harris merely winked at Grissom before speaking. "Your missing CSI, let's just say you don't have long to find him."

Grissom listened to the words and then said a few of his own, "Oh about that … we already have a team over at Capral Enterprises extracting him right now."

The look on Harris' face was priceless and Grissom couldn't help but say one more thing before Harris was taken away.

"You made one mistake in all this Harris."

"Yea. What was that?"

Grissom walked over to the handcuffed man and reached into his pocket and pulled out the disk, "Well it's been a known fact that the marine core has had a very honorable and proud tradition to never leave a man behind. That was your mistake Harris you left a man behind and now we have you."

* * *

There you have it the long awaited chapter. Hoped it was worth the wait. As usual please review. Thanks! 


	29. Chapter 29

Sorry...very sorry for the long wait. Thanks again for all of the wonderful reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter and a special thanks to Tefla for the whole beta thing.

* * *

Ringing. 

Ringing was all Nick heard as he teetered on the edge of consciousness. The pain flared across his body and forced him to slowly open his eyes. He lay there on the floor willing the pain away, but not succeeding. He lifted his head up off of the floor and surveyed his surroundings and put his head back down when he found himself back in his cell. He glanced towards the door and spied some blood just on the floor before it then he remembered – Erin.

He once again lifted his head and looked in the other direction and found her unconscious body only a few feet away from him. Nick had been unceremoniously dropped on the floor with his hands still cuffed behind his back. He tried to get up from his position on the floor. He groaned softly with the movement and found himself seeing stars. With his injuries he wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to remain conscious. He could still hear the ringing and wondered if he was suffering from a head injury or if there was an actual alarm going off. He hoped it was the latter.

He stopped his attempts at getting up before what energy he had, left him. Instead he slid himself closer to Erin … all the time fighting the throbbing in his head, leg and ribs. He finally made it to her. He looked at her pale face. Less than an hour ago she was scared, but full of life. Now after the blood loss she looked close to death. She still had specks of blood on both her forehead and cheek, but there was no mistake … she was alive as he once again watched her chest rise and fall. He attempted to speak, but it only came out as a whisper. "Erin. It's Nick … please wake up." He nudged her with his shoulder.

She didn't move. Nick sighed. He knew it would probably be a long shot to get her to wake up this soon. Head injuries were always tricky and he didn't know where exactly she had been hit with the bullet. Even if he did know, he wouldn't be able to look at it since he was still cuffed. _'Those bastards. Why couldn't they just leave me in here uncuffed?'_

Nick placed his head back down on the floor since he was obviously not going anywhere. He closed his eyes. His head was throbbing from the beating Harris had given him and the ringing wasn't helping any. He then listened closely to the ringing. It sounded like … like a fire alarm. _'Oh God what now?'_

He opened his eyes and once again struggled to get up. He had to see what was going on outside in the hallway. He needed to look out the one and only window in his room. He once again was reminded of how weak he really was when his body finally gave out. Nick still fought to remain conscious, but the darkness clouding the edges of his vision finally won and he fell into oblivion.

* * *

Brass walked back in forth between the police cars listening to his scanner. He flipped between the police and fire department. He was monitoring their progress in locating the bombs in the building. He could feel the eyes of the four CSIs follow him as he went back and forth. 

So far the bomb squad had found five bombs laced with C4: enough to total the whole building. These guys wanted to hide something and Jim had a feeling it was Nick and Erin. These guys were crazy to bring down a whole building just to get rid of two people. Surely they would know they would eventually be found. He figured though by that time they would be long gone and any evidence that showed they were there would be long gone as well.

He stopped his pacing when he heard another vehicle pull up. He looked over to see Grissom getting out of his Denali. The detective and four CSIs rushed over to him.

"Gil, how did it go?" Brass asked.

Grissom smiled at the group, "It went just as planned. We were able to grab Harris's men before they were able to do any damage. Let's just say the look on Harris's face was priceless when he knew we had him."

Grissom scanned the parking lot and noticed the people that had been evacuated from the building.

"How's it going here? Have they found Nick yet?"

"So far they've found five bombs laced with C4. They are still searching for more explosives. As for Nick I was just going to find out if they have found anything yet."

"If you could it would be appreciated."

"Consider it done." Brass placed the radio by his mouth. "This is Captain Brass how's the search for Stokes coming?"

Brass's radio crackled and he heard a voice coming through.

"Sir we have just gotten down to the basement. We are just starting the search now. We will let you know when we find something."

"Is the building secure?"

There was a moment of silence on the line then the voice came through again.

"Yes sir. My commander is giving the okay to enter the building. If you would like to meet us in the basement we will wait for you by the doors."

"10-4. We'll be there in two minutes."

Before Brass had a chance to respond the five CSIs headed towards the building at a brisk walk. The detective turned around to give the CSIs the news, but found they were already heading to the building. He rolled his eyes and proceeded to follow them to the building.

As they entered the elevator and took it down to the basement the level of anticipation rose. Each of them was afraid as to how they found Nick and Erin. They could both be dead already. After all, Harris was as mean as they came and there was no telling what he would have done.

Warrick found it hard to concentrate on anything else except for finding Nick. They had gotten lucky last time in locating him just before he pulled the trigger. This whole situation was a completely different animal. Nick didn't have a say whether he was going to live or not. He was at the mercy of a lunatic. He hoped that they would find him alive. If Nick wasn't alive he didn't know what he would do.

Greg watched the faces of the other CSIs. He knew they were all a close-knit family and when one of them was hurt all of them hurt. He remembered how everyone reacted when Nick was kidnapped before and this brought back a lot of buried memories. He could feel the lump in his throat when he swallowed. He prayed that they were going to find Nick and Erin Matthews alive.

Sara kept thinking about how she promised Erin that she would protect her. The guilt she was feeling was overwhelming. Not only had she let Erin down she had let Nick down as well. She knew she should still not be feeling guilty about the whole hospital thing, but she was. At least Nick and Erin had each other or she hoped. There was no telling if they were put together or not or if either of them was still alive. She bit back the tears that were going to fall. There was no time for that. She had to be strong for everyone and for herself. There would be time for crying later and hopefully it would be tears of happiness and joy instead of tears of loss and sorrow.

Catherine fidgeted were she stood in the elevator. She was between Grissom and Brass … two of the strongest men she knew. She considered herself lucky she actually was surrounded by a strong group of people who she considered family. They were once again at the brink of losing one of their members. She couldn't be certain how they all would react if they lost Nick after everything he had overcame in the last year. He didn't deserve it. Heck none of them deserved it. The only thing she knew was she considered herself the self-appointed mother of the group and she would do whatever she had to do to keep everyone safe and together. She swore to herself that if Nick made it out of this alive he would never leave the lab again. Then she snickered because she knew better. That would never happen. Nick was too good of a CSI to keep locked up in the lab.

Jim Brass had been a cop for a long time and he knew better than anyone that this whole situation could turn out bad in the long run. He hoped that Nick was still alive, but he had already prepared himself for the worst. In looking around at the people in the elevator he found that they appeared to have done the same thing. They were all professionals and dealt with death for a living. Occasionally they were able to help someone, but mostly they were dealing with violent and fatal crimes. As the elevator descended he could feel the adrenaline pumping. He usually felt this way right before a raid, but this wasn't a raid this was a rescue of a colleague a close friend and an innocent victim who was just trying to do the right thing. He willed the elevator to move faster.

Grissom stood in the elevator listening to the hum of the mechanism that lowered them to the basement. He always used his instinct when it came to his job. It hadn't failed him yet … until now. He let too many things slip through his fingers and now Nick's life was in danger because of it. Well the one thing that gave him satisfaction is that they had Harris in custody. He would pay for what he did to Nick and Erin. He hoped for Harris's sake that both of them were still alive. If they weren't there was going to be a lot of people upset and that wouldn't do to well for Harris's health. _'What the hell has come over me?'_ He never thought like that. He didn't support violence. He was avidly against it. That's why he had become a CSI. It was a part of his job to help the victims get justice to put the people away that committed these crimes. He never had any feelings on a case. He always looked to the science and kept his emotions buried. Grissom was never one to take a vacation. There was always too much to do, but looking at himself now he knew he needed one. He was losing his edge and that wasn't good for any of the team … especially him. He would be no help if he weren't working at one-hundred percent.

He sighed loudly and received looks from both Catherine and Brass. He just shrugged his shoulders in response.

The elevator finally dinged announcing their arrival in the basement. As the doors opened they found the bomb squad standing there waiting for them. They could still hear the fire alarm ringing throughout the building. It was very loud and effective in getting your attention especially if it was elsewhere.

"So far we have checked out this hallway and we haven't found any incendiary devices." The bomb squad commander yelled to the group over the alarm. He watched the group look around getting their bearings. "Before you go wandering about I have a request."

The CSIs and Brass stopped looking around and gave their attention to the bomb squad commander.

"Now it really is against procedures to have you down here. We have gone through the whole building and found all of the devices and disarmed them. So _it_ should be safe, but know this, there is always a possibility that we missed one. We have not completely gone through the basement. There are four of us in the squad. If you split up I want one of us to go with you in case you run across something."

"That's a good idea. There are ten of us. Why don't we split up in two teams? Two bomb squad guys on a team." Brass said.

"Ok. Warrick, Sara and Brass you go with those two. Catherine and Greg you're with me. Now remember what the commander said: You see anything suspicious you let the bomb squad handle it. Remember curiosity killed the cat." Grissom stated.

The commander spoke up one more time, "Please keep your radios handy and if you hear any one of us saying run don't ponder, and it means get your ass out of here and quick. We located the stairwell it's right around that corner and it's not locked we tested it earlier. So that will be our escape route if necessary."

The CSIs all listened intently to the instructions and nodded in understanding.

"Is there anyway to turn that fire alarm off now. I'm not sure if I'd be able to hear anything over that thing?" Catherine questioned loudly.

"Yea. I don't see why not since the whole building is clear anyway."

The commander spoke into his radio and within a minute or two the alarm went silent.

"Thanks." Catherine said.

"Sure."

"Whoever finds Nick and Erin be sure to radio the rest of us. Let's get going." Brass said.

The two groups split up and went in different directions. The hallway was made out of concrete cinder block. It split off in two different directions. Dark pipes lined the ceiling. Grissom and his group went to the right and Brass and his group went to the left.

Moving down the hallway was slow going especially since they had to make sure there were no bombs sitting around waiting to go off. Each team let the bomb-squad officers take the lead. They had the protective gear and knew what to look for.

Catherine, Grissom and Greg followed the two bomb-squad officers. They made their way up the hallway. Everyone was alert and examining the walls and pipes for any bombs. So far no one in the group had found anything, but that changed suddenly when they spotted a puddle of blood coming from just behind a closed door.

The two officers called for the group to stop. It was hard for Grissom and Catherine to not run over and investigate. They had to wait until the two officers cleared the scene.

Grissom and Catherine shared a look before they both looked at Greg who still stared at the puddle of blood.

"Oh God, please don't let that be Nick." Catherine whispered.

Grissom looked back over to Catherine. She had tried to say that quietly, but he heard her and he agreed. If Nick were dead it wouldn't have been from natural causes. He more than likely would have more than likely been shot which would have caused all of the blood.

They watched the two officers open the metal door. The three CSIs who were on the other side of the open door moved around it to see who was on the other side. Just inside the door was the body of an older man. It was obviously not Nick. The man had been shot in the chest and had bled out. The two officers stepped into the small room and did a once over. Once they cleared the room the CSIs were allowed to enter.

Grissom and Catherine squatted over the body while Greg stayed in the hallway there was only room enough for the two of them. Both of the veteran CSIs pulled out a pair of latex gloves and began to pat down the dead man.

Catherine found the man's wallet in his pants pocket. She pulled it out and read his drivers license.

"It says here that his name is Jake Evers."

"Jake Evers that name sounds familiar." Grissom replied.

"It should. He's big in the gambling industry. He's the CEO for Capral Enterprises. Sam's had some dealing with him."

"Well I guess he's been demoted." Grissom responded.

Warrick, Sara and Brass followed their two bomb squad officers down another cinder block corridor. The group also took it slow. They didn't want to take a chance of missing anything. Each of them also checked the pipes and the smaller closets. So far they had been lucky and had not found any bombs, but that didn't meant they weren't there. Warrick was prepared to do anything to make sure Nick was okay.

The group made their way up the hallway they all stopped when the saw a trail of blood run across the floor.

"It looks like someone was dragged." Sara commented.

They followed the blood trail, which led them to a locked room with a window in the door. The officer looked into the window. Warrick watched the man's face for any type of reaction. When he saw the officer's eyes go wide he knew there was something in that room that he had to see.

"We found them." The officer said.

He moved closer to the officer and looked into the room. On the floor were Nick and Erin. He could see the blood trail end in the room. He couldn't see either of their faces. Erin was on her back, but her head was in the opposite direction. Nick was on his stomach, his hands were cuffed behind and he was facing Erin.

Warrick pushed the officer aside and struggled to open the locked door. He could feel the glare from Sara and Brass as he tried to open the door, but he didn't care. Nick was only a few feet away from him. He wasn't going to let a locked door keep him from helping him.

"Warrick, you need to let the officers to their jobs. Now get out of their way." Brass ordered.

He turned a looked at Sara then at Brass.

"… But Jim."

"You heard me Warrick. Get out of the damn way and let them do their jobs or you are going back outside. The door could be rigged and what good would that do Nick or yourself if you are blown to kingdom come."

Warrick could feel his cheeks flush with anger, but he did as he was told. He moved and let the officers check the door.

Sara grabbed her radio and spoke into it, "Grissom come in."

It was only a matter of seconds before he replied.

"This is Grissom. Go ahead Sara."

"We found them."

There was silence. She knew they waiting to hear the bad news … news that she couldn't give them yet.

"Are they alive?"

"We don't know yet. They are locked in a small room. Both of them appear unconscious."

"Where are you?"

"We are about seventy-five feet or from our original position."

"Ok we'll be there in a minute. We need to wrap up here."

"Did you find something?"

"Yea we found Jake Evers, the CEO, dead. He was shot."

"Roger that. Grissom just to warn you: there is a lot of blood."

Grissom closed his eyes at that last sentence. Where there was a lot of blood there usually was a dead body. Case in point the body in front of him. This whole thing was almost over. He looked up to see the look in Catherine's eyes. He nodded his head at her then she was gone with Greg on her tail.

Catherine was examining the body when she heard Sara's voice through the radio. She had said in the most general terms that they had found Nick and Erin, but she didn't say whether or not they were alive. Grissom had asked the difficult question, but Sara was unable to answer it. Nick and Erin were locked in a room possibly dead or critically injured. Grissom told Sara that they would be there in a minute. That's when Sara had said there was a lot of blood. The professional in Catherine wanted to argue with him. This body wasn't going anywhere they could always come back. She needed to see Nick. Grissom looked at Catherine they had worked together long enough to know her thoughts. He just nodded his head and she was gone. She flicked off her latex gloves and flew down the hall with Greg hot on her trail.

She arrived at Sara's position in less than a minute. She could see the officer working on the door. Brass walked over to her and she came up to the group.

"It looks bad. We found a trail of blood. It looked like someone was dragged. The trail stopped here."

Catherine looked down to see the blood that Brass was talking about. She always prided herself on having a strong stomach when most people didn't, but the sight of the blood made her stomach turn. Was that Nick's blood?

Brass watched her reaction as he continued to brief her, "We are unable to determine if they are alive or not. Their faces are turned away from us."

Catherine finally found her voice, "What's taking so long? How come they aren't through the door yet?"

"They have to make sure the door isn't rigged."

Catherine stopped at that. She didn't realize that that had been a possibility. She looked over at the officers they were using some equipment to check the door. She watched the interaction between the two. Both of them knew their jobs. They were like a well-oiled machine, just like their group. When she saw the commander indicate that the door was safe she moved in to look through the window.

She gasped at the sight. Both Nick and Erin were in the middle of the floor lying in blood. Sara was right there was a lot of blood. She turned away from the window and looked at Warrick. She could see the he was trying to keep his feelings in check. She looked over at Brass and Sara who were leaning on each other for moral support. Then she looked over to Greg who seemed lost. Catherine walked over to him and gave him a hug. She didn't realize that a few minutes had gone by when she heard the announcement that they were through.

She turned in time to watch Warrick and Brass rush into the room. She wasn't even to the door when she heard Warrick.

"They're alive!"

* * *

I hope you liked it. One more chapter to go. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks! 


	30. Chapter 30

Wow...this is it. I would like to thank my agent, and my manager and my...wait who am I kidding. No really I would like thank everyone for their continued interest in my story. It really was a pleasure to write for all of you and I'm glad you enjoyed the story. As you can tell from my ramblings obviously this is the last chapter.

I would like to throw out a special thanks to Tefla my beta. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't know the difference between too, to and two. AHH! Wait I still don't and that's why I have a beta (tee hee). I do know that two is a number. Just joking people. Puh-lease.

Now I present the last chapter of Appendix for Murder. Enjoy!

* * *

"They're alive!" was all Grissom heard from the hallway. With those words said they were all moving. The group of CSIs crowded into the small room to see for themselves that they were still alive. 

Grissom could see Warrick stooping over Nick's unconscious body and Sara had taken a position next to Erin.

"Let's get these damn cuffs off of him."

Brass moved quickly with a key and preceded to uncuff Nick. With the utmost gentleness they slowly moved Nick's arms to his side. Both men slowly turned Nick over to get a really good look at him. They could finally see the extent of Nick's injuries. The CSI was obviously in bad shape. His face was bloodied and bruised. His right pant leg was caked with dried blood from the gunshot wound he received earlier that evening. He probably had other injuries that they couldn't see either. This man had been through a lot.

The detective stood up from his position only to be replaced by Catherine. She touched Nick's cheek wishing all his pain were to leave suddenly, but she knew it was a futile wish. This was only the beginning of another painful recovery.

Brass grabbed his radio, "This is Brass. We need the EMTs down in the basement."

After Brass had said that the bomb squad commander stepped up, "Captain that's not a good idea. We need to get these people out of here."

The CSIs pulled their attention away from the two victims and looked up to the commander.

"I thought you said that this building was safe," Brass questioned.

"Yes sir. We did say that, but this is only a precaution. We have less that six minutes before the bombs are supposed to go off. I would feel a lot better if we cleared this whole building of all personnel before the time we have runs out."

Brass was about to say something when the commander continued.

"Look Captain I have the utmost confidence in my men, but we aren't perfect and this isn't a perfect world. Sometimes we miss something. It rarely happens, but I would rather not take the chance."

The detective considered his words as Grissom made his way over.

"Jim he's right. We should get out of here just to be on the safe side."

He sighed as he spoke into his radio, "This is Brass. Hold the EMTs. We are coming to you." He looked over to the commander. "You better give the order to evacuate then."

The commander nodded at the suggestion. "This is squad leader. All personnel evacuate the building. The explosives are set to discharge in less than five minutes. I repeat all personnel evacuate the building."

Grissom walked back over to the group, "Sara and Greg: you two take care of Erin. Warrick and I will carry Nick. Let's get going people. I don't know about you, but I would rather not be buried alive."

Warrick and Grissom bent over Nick and grabbed the unconscious CSI by the arms and hefted him so his arms were over their shoulders. Though unconscious, that move caused Nick's face to scrunch up in pain. The group of people in the room noticed the flinch, but decided it would be best to have the injury looked at once they were out of the building.

Sara and Greg repeated the process with Erin. Once both of them were in the arms of their rescuers the group made their way to the elevator. Nick chose that moment to start waking up.

Nick could feel himself being moved. Where were his captors taking him now? He had to get away and help Erin. Though he was just barely conscious he didn't want to tip his hand. He wanted to keep the element of surprise for as long as he could. He assessed his injuries and found his arms hanging limply at the side of his body – he was no longer cuffed! Nick knew he didn't stand a chance in hell of saving Erin, but he was going to go down trying.

The stabbing pain in his ribs was becoming unbearable, but he wanted to try one more time. He had to - both for himself and for Erin, but where was Erin? Was she with him? Was she still alive? He would worry about that later. Right now he had the element of surprise on his side and he was going to take advantage of that.

Nick's head hung forward as two men held him up. Though he didn't actually look he could feel that there were more people near him. It would be a little more difficult … but manageable. He did play football in high school and in college. He slowed down his breathing and swallowed back the lump that had formed in his throat. It wasn't often that a person knew the exact place and time of ones own death, but he surmised that his time was coming soon. He had no doubts that what he was about to do would cause just that – his death.

He tried to remain limp in the arms of his captors. He didn't want to give anything away. The element of surprise was his greatest strength at the moment. He took a few small soothing breaths again not wanting to even hint that he was now conscious. It was now or never. He opened his eyes and only saw feet since his head was down. He gathered the strength he had and yanked his arms free of his captors. He turned to the right and punched his captor in the face. He felt the man release him and fall back with a grunt. The man wasn't down for more than a second before he felt the hands of another grabbing him from behind.

He turned with his fist in the air and screamed, "If I'm going down I'm taking some of you with me."

Warrick and Grissom kept a firm hold on the unconscious man between them. They were trying to be cautious of Nick's injuries. They didn't want to hurt him anymore than he was already. From the looks of it he had been put through the ringer more than once. Nick was as limp as could be. That's why he was so surprised when Nick yanked his arms free from both him and Warrick. He watched in slow motion as Nick turned to face him and punched him in the face. He could feel himself fall back and grunted when he hit the floor.

He looked up to see Warrick recover from the sudden shock and grab Nick from behind.

Grissom shuddered when he heard Nick say, "If I'm going down I'm taking some of you with me."

Warrick held on to Nick for dear life. He never really knew how strong Nick was until now. He looked over at the four officers in the elevator and two came over to assist him while Catherine bent over to check Grissom.

Nick was still struggling, but stopped screaming. He had played his cards and lost. Now he was going to die.

Catherine bent over to check Grissom who was feeling his jaw.

"Gil are you alright?"

"Yea I'm fine. Remind me to never go boxing with him."

Catherine helped Grissom up and they both looked over to Warrick and the officers who held Nick. The CSI just looked down to the floor. He was a beaten man.

"He's incoherent. He must think that he's still with Harris." Brass stated.

"What can we do? Do you think he'll respond to us?" Sara asked.

"Well there's only one way to find out." Catherine replied.

"Catherine be careful. He's strong." Grissom said still feeling his jaw.

She smiled at him as she inched closer to Nick. She stood just in front of him and placed her hand on his cheek and spoke to him. Sara, Greg and Brass all watched with anticipation.

"Nick … it's Catherine. Your safe now."

She glanced at Warrick and Grissom hoping that Nick would recognize her voice. Warrick could feel Nick tense up again.

"Nick man … we got you."

Nick could have sworn he heard both Warrick and Catherine's voice. Why would they be here? He was still at the mercy of Harris, but something deep down told him that he was safe. After all he had punched one of the men and he had been beaten for less in the past.

He heard those soothing words again … he was safe … Erin was safe. He had to believe those words or there was nothing else to believe in. He swallowed down the bile that was rising and forced himself to look up and into the eyes of the person that was speaking to him.

Catherine stood in front of Nick telling him that he was safe. Deep down she just wanted to see those big brown eyes stare back at her to acknowledge her. She feared for Nick and everything that had happened to him. '_Please Nick look at me.'_ She silently urged.

Her thoughts were rewarded when he lifted his head and looked at her. She could see the fear and trepidation in those brown eyes. She smiled at Nick and told him again that he was safe and no one would hurt him.

Nick looked up to see Catherine standing in front of him. She had her hand on his cheek. He let out a small sob. It was his way of releasing the fear he was feeling.

"Catherine?" He whispered.

She smiled when he recognized her, "Yea Nick. It's me. You and Erin are safe now. _You_ are going to be okay."

"Erin where is she? She was shot!" he frantically looked around the elevator.

"She's right here Nick and she's still alive." Sara responded.

"Sara?"

"Yes Nick. We are all here. We came for you."

Nick just realized he was in an elevator and his eyes got big. He looked over to Brass who stood just a few feet before him.

Brass could see the wheels turning in Nick's head. _'Uh-oh … the last elevator ride he was in didn't turn out so well.'_

"Nick. It's okay." He said in a calming voice.

Nick shook his head and tried to move to the back of the elevator. The group of people in the elevator looked over to Brass for an explanation.

"Nicky it's okay. The building has been evacuated and there's no one in the lobby waiting for us. Nick do you hear me … you're safe."

Grissom looked from Brass to Nick and finally understood what was bothering him. The last time Nick was in an elevator he witnessed three people murdered in cold blood right in front of him.

"Nick, man it's okay. Brass is right there's no one there."

He listed to both Brass and Warrick and finally choked out an "Okay" and he visibly relaxed.

"How is she?" Nick asked quietly not taking his eyes from Erin.

"It's hard to say. She lost a lot of blood, but we all know that head wounds bleed a lot." Sara replied.

"Has she regained consciousness at all?"

Sara looked to Greg who shook his head no.

"Damn it! This is all my fault. She would have never been involved in any of this if it weren't for me."

Grissom placed a hand on Nick's shoulder, "Nick this isn't your fault. The person responsible is behind bars."

Nick head jerked in Grissom's direction, "Harris is in jail?" he asked not believing it.

"Yes he is. I had the pleasure of watching him being taken into custody. He won't bother you anymore. You have my word."

Nick noticed a bruise forming on Grissom jaw, "Did I do that to you?" he asked.

Grissom felt his jaw, "It doesn't matter Nick. It's over. Harris won't bother you anymore."

Nick's mind was finally at ease another name to add to the list of names to pack away. Harris would join the long forgotten others – Amy Hendler, Nigel Crane and Walter Gordon.

It was the longest elevator ride they had ever taken. Realistically it was only a minute or so, but it seemed like a lifetime. They finally reached the lobby and they all exited the elevator into the lobby.

The bomb squad commander glanced down at his watch as the group emerged into the lobby. Nick's head darted around the lobby looking for hidden attacker, but there was no one just as Brass and Warrick had said.

"Come on people. We have less than two minutes to get ourselves out of here. We have to pick up the pace."

The CSIs did as they were told and double-timed it out of the building where they were meet by four EMTs and two gurneys. The lowered Nick and Erin into the gurneys and they all took off running away from the building.

Nick couldn't help but squint at they made it outside the building. He had been underground for most of the morning so the usually welcomed sunlight bothered him. He could feel himself being guided towards an ambulance where some EMTs were waiting for them.

Everything was happening so fast it was a blur. The only constant he felt was Warrick's arms holding him up. He was safe again. He knew his friends would come for him. The group was just about to the ambulance when Nick heard the bomb squad commander speak into his radio.

"This is squad commander. Is everyone clear of the building." The commander said into his radio.

"Yes sir. Everyone is accounted for."

"10-4"

Nick listened with intent then looked to Warrick, "What's going on 'Rick?"

Warrick looked like a deer in headlights. He had hoped that Nick wouldn't find out about the bombs. It was obvious from the beginning at least when Nick regained consciousness that he didn't know anything about the bombs or he would have said something.

"It's just a precaution Nick."

"A precaution for what?"

Warrick looked to the others for help. Grissom stepped up to the plate, "Nick I'm not going to lie to you. Harris planted several bombs in the building to explode. The bomb squad thinks they may have found them all, but they wanted to be on the safe side and have the building completely evacuated when the bombs were set to go off."

Nick's face paled at that bit of information, "Thanks for being honest."

"Sure thing."

The group of rescuers made it safely to the parking lot and helped both Nick and Erin into the waiting gurneys. As they just made it a loud explosion was heard from the building and then another.

"Well I guess the commander was right. They aren't perfect, but then again who is?" Brass said.

Nick jumped and tried without succeeding in holding back a scream. He looked at the smoking building coming with the terms that he was almost in there when the bomb had gone off. Sure the bombs were not in the basement where he was, but the bombs were meant to bury him and Erin. He felt a chill go down his back. His friends had really come through … again.

He could feel the eyes of his friends on him.

"I'm okay. Just a little shaken and pretty beat up, but I'll be okay. Please check and see if Erin is okay."

"Okay Nick, but we are going to be watching over both of you." Catherine said with a smile.

* * *

The two paramedic teams began to work on both Nick and Erin. Catherine watched over Erin just as Nick had asked. They finally heard a moan coming from Erin's side of the gurney as she opened her eyes. She looked around confused. 

"Where am I?"

"Miss do you remember what happened?" One of the paramedics asked as he was taking her blood pressure.

Erin looked at the paramedic and shook her head no.

"Do you remember your name?"

She nodded, "Erin Matthews."

"That's great. What's the last thing you remember Miss Matthews?"

Erin thought about it for a while, "Please call me Erin."

"Erin it is." He said with a smile.

She smiled back, "The last thing I remember I was getting ready for work yesterday morning."

The paramedics glanced at each other then at the waiting CSIs, "That's just fine Erin. You are doing great. You have a pretty bad head injury which could be the reason for the memory loss."

Erin nodded at the paramedics' explanation then looked at the people standing around her gurney.

"Do I know you?" she asked Sara.

"Yes you do, but it's alright. My name is Sara Sidle."

Erin nodded again. She glanced over and noticed Nick being examined. She could see the bruising and the blood all over his face as well as his leg. She grew concerned. For some reason she felt a connection to him, but she couldn't remember what the connection was.

She could feel a tear starting to form in her eye, as she continued to watch the paramedics work on Nick. Erin could see the grimace on the man's face as he was poked and prodded by the paramedics. She watched as the paramedic checked his ribs where he elicited a scream of pain. That scream gained the attention of all around them.

The man seemed a little embarrassed over that and she could hear him mumble an apology to everyone for that outburst. She was drawn from her attention to him when she was asked a question.

"Do you remember what happened to him?" a man with a beard has asked her.

"Hmm … I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention."

"Do you remember what happened to him?"

"No."

"His name is Nick."

"Nick." She said trying to feel any familiarity with the name, but nothing was coming from it. "I'm sorry I can't remember anything. This is so frustrating."

"Don't worry about it Erin. We are going to take you to the hospital now." The paramedic said.

"Okay." She looked over to Sara who was doing her best at smiling.

"I'm going to come with you to if that's okay." Sara stated.

"That would be nice. Thanks."

"My pleasure."

Once the paramedics had secured the straps on the gurney, they lifted the stretcher as gently as possible to prevent Erin from being jostled off. She could feel herself being lifted into the waiting ambulance. Erin took one last look at Nick while he was being cared for.

Sara followed Erin into the ambulance. She had already made arrangements to meet them at the hospital. She felt guilty for once again leaving Nick, but she knew that he would want her to go with Erin to make sure she was all right and being cared for.

* * *

People smothered Nick around his gurney. He tried to see if Erin was okay, but was unable to see through the people gathered around him. He could have sworn he heard her talking, but was brought out of that thought when the paramedic checked his ribs. He inadvertently screamed out which scared everyone around him. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment. 

"Sorry about that. You just hit a bad spot." He mumbled.

The paramedic smiled, "Hey don't worry about it. Happens all the time. I'm sorry I hurt you."

Nick nodded as the paramedic continued his assessment of injuries.

"Mr. Stokes … where else are you hurt?"

"Um … well you already hit the ribs. I would have to say my leg then my head."

The paramedic listened intently to what Nick told him about his injuries.

"What happened to your leg?"

"Shot."

"Okay. I'm going to cut your pant leg to check the wound."

Nick braced himself for the pain, but the paramedic was gentle enough not to hurt him. The paramedic cleaned and dressed the wound the best he could, but he could tell that the bullet was still logged in there.

"How's the pain now … in your leg?"

"It hurts."

"Well the wound looks inflamed. You may have an infection starting. How long ago were you shot?"

"What time is it now?"

"Around nine."

Nick thought about it as he watched the fireman going in and out of the building.

"I would say I was shot between twelve and two this morning. I can't really remember."

"Well I'm going to start an IV on you then we are going to get you to the hospital."

Warrick had kept an eye on Nick as the paramedic assessed his injuries. He flinched every time Nick hissed from the pain. It had only been a matter of hours since Nick was taken, but he had been through hell. He was going to make sure that he was there for him.

Catherine watched as the ambulance drove off carrying both Erin and Sara. She knew that Sara had felt guilty for not watching Erin better. Erin may not remember all that, but Sara still had that memory fresh in her head. She looked down at the beaten and worn CSI who was still being worked on. She bent down next to the paramedic and Nick looked at her.

"Nick, they just left with Erin. Sara went with her."

"Good. How is she?" he asked.

Catherine looked at the paramedic who nodded for her to continue. Nick noticed the exchange between the two and started to worry.

"Catherine, what's wrong with her? Is she all right?"

"She's fine Nick. She woke up and was talking to the paramedics only a few minutes ago."

"Then what's with the look?"

"Sorry about that Nick. I just wanted to make sure you were okay enough before I started to explain things."

He kept silent waiting for her to continue. He could feel Grissom, Warrick, Brass and Greg all step closer to hear her as well.

Grissom already knew about Erin's memory loss. In a way he felt that she was lucky. He was sure that this was probably the worse night of her life - judging by the way they both looked. She was lucky and would remain lucky if she couldn't remember. Erin would be able to get on with her life without freaking out or worrying. He only wished Nick could do the same thing. Unfortunately he could see the haunting that plagued the man's eyes. He would recover once again, but who knew how long it would take him this time.

Nick waited for Catherine to start. She cleared her throat.

"Nick, Erin has sustained some memory loss."

"What?"

"She can't remember anything after getting ready for work yesterday morning."

"She can't remember anything?" he questioned.

"Nope. Nothing about what happened."

Nick took the news better than she thought.

"She's lucky."

"What do you mean?" Catherine asked.

"She's lucky if she can't remember anything from tonight … I envy her. I only wish I couldn't remember too. I do know that the pain will eventually fade. It always does."

* * *

It had been seven days since his abduction and he was finally being released from the hospital. His gunshot wound had become infected and he did spike a fever, but they fought it with antibiotics. He would have to walk with a cane for a few weeks until the leg was completely healed and then he would have to go through some physical therapy. They weren't able to do much with his ribs except wrap them and give him some painkillers. 

Erin had been released four days earlier from her injury. Though she still couldn't remember the events of that day she still felt compelled to visit Nick one last time before she left the hospital.

He remembered the conversation well. He also remembered how uncomfortable she felt when she walked into the room. It was a little easier when Sara came with her.

Nick lay in his bed reading a magazine when he heard a knock at the door and two head poked in. It was Erin and Sara.

"Come in." He said with a smile.

He noticed a slight hesitation in Erin, but she eventually made her way into the room following Sara in.

"So what brings you two ladies to my temporary humble abode?"

"Well Erin was just released and wanted to come by and say good-bye." Sara explained.

"Ah … so you are finally getting out of here. Lucky you." He said with a smile.

"Yep. The doctor says that there wasn't much more they could to do help me." She explained as she played with her hands. "He says that I may never remember that day. It could be that I'm repressing the memory or it could be from the head injury itself."

Nick listened to her explain what the doctor said and then once she was done he spoke.

"Listen Erin, I'm going to be honest here and say that I hope you never remember that night. Not a day has gone by since that night that I wish I was as lucky as you were to not be able to remember. Take it as a good thing and don't worry about it. This is a memory not worth having … trust me."

He looked into her eyes and he could see them starting to glisten.

"Will you be all right?" She asked as her eyes started to tear.

Nick looked over at Sara then back at Erin, "I have a lot of good friends who will help me get through this. I will be fine. Trust me when I say that." He said with a smile.

The memory faded when he heard a knock at the door and Warrick walked in with his discharge papers and a wheelchair.

"You ready to get out of here?"

"I was ready three days ago." He replied with a smile.

Warrick made his way over to the bed and helped Nick up. Nick had already been wearing his sweatpants, a T-shirt and had his shoes on. He sure wasn't kidding when he said he was ready. The taller man helped Nick into the wheelchair and the two left the room and headed out to the truck.

It was evening when Nick was released so the strip was in full swing as they drove by. Warrick decided to give Nick some space and not to prod him too much. He knew Nick would talk when he was ready. Warrick pulled up to a red light and stopped his truck when he heard Nick.

"Well I'll be damned. Warrick take a look at this." He said pointing out his window.

That statement made Warrick very curious and he leaned over to see what Nick was looking at. Nick looked at Warrick whose mouth opened in surprise. Sitting next to them at the red light was a little old lady about eighty years old driving a 1960 Buick Sedan, but that wasn't what grabbed their attention. It was the CPR dummy that was strapped in a seatbelt in the backseat.

"Well I'll be … you know we still haven't solved that case yet."

"Congrats Warrick. It looks like you just got a break in the case." Nick said with a smile.

One thing for sure about Vegas: just when you thought you'd seen it all something else would come along and surprise you.

* * *

And there you have it. Again it was a pleasure and I appreciate the reviews that you sent along. Please review one last time and let me know what you thought. Thanks and see you out there. 


End file.
